FIC: Once in a Blue Moon - Ch 73 (WIP)
Start of the story, including full ratings, warnings, pairings etc. Here
Summary for the new readers watching my journal: An AU Remus/Sirius story set in a world where an eleven year old werewolf named Remus Lupin never got his Hogwarts invitation, and where Sirius Black was not accepted by the rest of the Gryffindors. The two outcasts form a friendship despite overwhelming odds, but will their friendship survive when Sirius finds himself falling in love with his best friend...his friend who wants nothing more than to be 'normal', despite the passion he feels for the heir to the Noble House of Black.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
To Chase After Forever After (PG13)
Sirius had seen Romulus angry once before, and the memory of the morning on the day following Remus’s thirteenth birthday came back to him clearly.
It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who was recalling that particular morning.
“Do you remember what I said to you the morning after you discovered Remus’s secret?” Romulus glared at Sirius, but he didn’t wait for an answer. “I told you that there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my brother, and that if anything happened to him because of you, I’d track you down. I knew that sooner or later you’d show your face in Diagon Alley; all I had to do was wait.”
Sirius tried to find his voice, but speech seemed to have failed him completely.
“Rom?” a female voice called out. Though Sirius thought the voice sounded familiar, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the furious face of Romulus Lupin.
“Can I interrupt?” Rita asked with a cheerfulness of spirit that the situation certainly didn’t warrant. “It seems to me that you both are on the same side here, so perhaps we might like to avoid being arrested for brawling… again.”
“My brother’s a prisoner because of you,” Romulus hissed.
“I…”
“You deserted him when he needed you most.”
“I…”
“You broke his heart.”
“I…”
“You - ”
But Sirius never knew what other accusation Romulus was about to make because Rita interrupted him. “It isn’t Sirius’s fault,” she said, and Sirius felt a surge of unexpected gratitude for her. “He’s as much a victim as Remus in this whole conspiracy.”
Romulus turned to look at Rita, raising a single eyebrow in question. “A conspiracy, is it?” he asked sarcastically.
“Your family and mine,” Sirius whispered. “I only found out this morning. They deceived me, kept me blind and let me believe Remus was…” He couldn’t bring himself to complete the sentence.
“Let you believe Remus was what?” Romulus asked. “That he’s a monster without feelings? That he didn’t love you any more? Didn’t you think he deserved an explanation? You said you loved him, then you do this to him!”
“They told him Remus was dead,” Rita explained quietly. “That he hadn’t survived the accident.”
“And Sirius somehow managed to miss all the reports in the paper?” Romulus asked sarcastically. “Clearly he’s recovered his sight, which makes that a little difficult to believe.”
“His sight was restored this morning.”
“This morning?” Romulus echoed, looking at Sirius for confirmation.
Sirius nodded slowly. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“Blind or not, you could have made the effort to find out.”
“I thought he was dead,” Sirius whispered. “I was barely even making the effort to survive each day.”
“You should have done more to find him.”
“I visited his bloody grave,” Sirius shouted. “I… I…” His voice began to tremble as he realised that he should never have believed what his family had told him. He should have moved heaven and hell to discover the truth. He should have pushed his depression aside and exposed his parents’ lies for what they were. He felt filled with shame as he realised how little he had done in the months since the accident. Other than working on the Wolfsbane Potion, he had done little more than survive, quietly ensconced in his rooms. He could have done so much more, had he simply made the effort.
Romulus drew in a deep breath and took a step backwards. The anger was almost gone from his eyes and as he stepped away, Sirius could see that the female voice he had heard was that of Alana.
“Perhaps we should take this off the street,” Alana suggested quietly.
“Our place?” Romulus replied.
“My flat’s just round the corner,” Sirius argued.
“Very well,” Romulus agreed, and the four of them set off for Cauldron Close.
The flat looked almost exactly the same as it had the last time Sirius had seen it. The only difference was the thick layer of dust that coated every surface.
“I’m surprised you didn’t sell the place,” Romulus commented while Rita pulled out her wand and pointed it at one of the dusty chairs. Alana brushed a stray cobweb away from the sofa and sat down on it, Romulus sitting close beside her.
Sirius didn’t bother cleaning away the dust on the chair he chose. The state of his flat was the least of his concerns. “If I’d sold it, it would have been like admitting something, something I didn’t want to. It was easier to leave it as it was.”
Romulus nodded thoughtfully, understandingly, and Sirius saw the last of his anger finally vanish from his eyes.
“How is it you’re here?” Sirius finally asked. “Alive and well and…?”
“Corporeal?” Romulus supplied with a grin.
“Huh?” Rita looked around the room in some confusion. Sirius caught her look and smiled at her.
“I was sort of a ghost the last time Sirius saw me,” Romulus explained. “Surely you saw me around Hogwarts?”
Rita shook her head.
“How about at the Wizengamot during Remus’s trials?”
Rita shook her head again and shrugged. Sirius quietly mused that for a reporter she was remarkably unobservant.
“Sort of?” Sirius questioned, not concerned in the least about whether Rita remembered Romulus or not.
“Well, I was in spirit form,” Romulus agreed. “Just not exactly dead.”
“But how?”
Romulus sighed and explained, as briefly as he could, how Dumbledore had taught him to escape from his body in order to replenish his happy memories during his time in Azkaban.
Sirius could barely believe it, but the evidence was sitting right across from him. “Are you saying that you’ve really been in Azkaban all this time?” he asked.
“My body’s been there. Just I’ve not been in it as much as I should have.” Romulus shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell us? Or at least tell Remus?”
“How do you know he didn’t know?” Rita asked, her quill already flying across the page.
“Because it might have gone wrong,” Romulus replied quietly, and he explained the risks he had taken in much the same way as he had explained it all to Remus.
“He’d have wanted to know,” Sirius snapped. “You saw him after you first came back, you know how upset he was, he blamed himself for your death!”
“And if I’d died doing this, he’d have blamed himself even more, because I’d have died whilst looking over him.”
“You should have told him!”
“What’s done is done,” Alana quietly interceded. “Rom had his reasons for what he did, and for why he didn’t tell you.”
Romulus turned to smile at the young muggle. “Thanks, love.”
“So, you two are sweethearts?” Rita asked cheerfully, quill at the ready again. “That’s so adorable.”
Romulus frowned momentarily at Rita before turning back to Sirius. “Why’s she here?”
“Sirius has promised me an exclusive,” Rita replied, before Sirius could open his mouth.
“She’s here to help get Remus out of the camp,” Sirius amended. “She has a contact who works there who owes her a favour.”
“And in return, I get an exclusive.” Rita grinned widely. “So, did you two know each other when Romulus was a spirit? How did you meet? Did she know you were really alive? Or did she think you were truly star-crossed?”
“I was a spirit, we fell in love, I told her everything, I got released and came back,” Romulus told Rita shortly.
“Care to elaborate?” Rita asked.
“No.”
Rita turned to Alana instead. “So, how do you feel about ex-cons?”
Sirius rolled his eyes as Alana blushed and stammered and turned to Romulus for help. “I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out,” he muttered. “You were ageing and I didn’t even notice. And your hair - I knew it was getting longer.”
“There aren’t any barbers in Azkaban,” Romulus said with a chuckle. “Each time I left my body I’d appear as my body was at the time. I couldn’t stop ageing or anything like that; I just had to hope you didn’t pay too much attention to me. Not a great problem since you couldn’t take your eyes off Remus.”
“It’s not like I noticed either,” Alana added.
“You knew me for less than a year though,” Romulus pointed out. “And you’re not exactly used to ghosts and the like popping up all over the place.”
“You’re not?” Rita asked. “Are you a muggle? How did you ever meet each other? A ghost and a muggle and a werewolf and the Black heir…”
“Do we really need her here?” Romulus asked impatiently.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Sirius replied. “We’re meeting her contact when his shift finishes, and then we’re going to see about breaking Remus out.”
“You think Remus will want to be on the run again?” Romulus asked.
“Better that, than a prisoner in one of those camps,” Sirius stated. “Are you coming with us?”
Romulus grinned widely. “Well, it’s not like anyone else is going to keep you two out of trouble?”
“I’ll wait back at our place,” Alana said. “I have to collect Eve from her grandmother’s soon anyway.”
“You’re okay to get back there by train?” Romulus asked.
“I managed it for years,” Alana told him with a laugh. “Just bring him home safely.”
Romulus nodded and gently squeezed Alana’s hand. “We will,” he assured her.
-o-xXx-o-
“So, you and Alana?” Sirius commented quietly as he watched Rita shamelessly flirting with Paul.
“Hmm?”
“Been making up for lost time?” he teased.
Romulus blushed and smiled to himself, confirming Sirius’s suspicions.
“Did I imagine seeing an engagement ring on her finger?”
“No.” Romulus grinned.
“Set a date, yet?”
“No, we’re waiting until Remus can be Best Man.”
“How come you didn’t try to break him out before now?”
“I was trying to get him out through the official channels.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Not for me. My application to take care of him was rejected earlier this week, because of my record.”
“Could I apply to get him out properly?” Sirius asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” Romulus replied after thinking about the question. “Spouses can apply, but I don’t know if a centaur bonding counts. The Warlocks who heard Remus’s case seemed amenable to the idea of you supervising him, if you’d been there to apply in person.”
“Maybe we should wait and get him out of here officially?” Sirius suggested.
Romulus shook his head. “There’s no time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each full moon that Remus goes through brings him closer to death. Without you with him, he’s suffering more than he ever has.”
Sirius looked at the full moon hanging above them and imagined he heard Moony’s howl coming from deep within the camp. They couldn’t wait, not when Remus’s life was at stake. “Guess we’re breaking him out then.”
“Looks like we’re in,” Romulus said as Rita waved them over.
Sirius and Romulus approached the others.
“There’s not going to be a break out tonight,” Paul told them immediately.
Sirius looked up at the full moon overhead again. “I know,” he replied. “But can you get us in? I have to be with him.”
Paul nodded. “This way.”
“Remus is in B Section,” Rita said, as they followed after Paul. “It’s pretty low security in that section, but he gets transferred to the maximum security wing during full moons.”
“Low security or not, it’s still a prison,” Sirius pointed out testily. “And James and Peter aren’t here, yet.”
“You don’t even know that they got your letter,” Rita pointed out. “I thought you wanted to get Remus out of here as quickly as possible?”
“I do,” Sirius nodded, receiving a nod of approval from Romulus. He knew that Remus’s brother was in no mood to wait any longer either. His decision made, he followed the others into the camp. “I hate to think of Remus in this place.”
“It’s not that bad,” Paul commented from ahead of them. “These places get reported badly in the press, but that’s just the Ministry sticking their noses in, making sure people know that the inmates here are dangerous. Paint them as violent and animalistic, and no one questions them being here.”
“The Prophet always prints the absolute truth,” Rita piped up with a haughty sniff.
“Sure it does,” Paul muttered loudly. “Can’t you hear the animals tearing each other apart already?”
“Erm.”
“This is A Section,” Paul said as he pointed to the building ahead of them. “That’s the banshees’ section; not exactly a battle ground, is it?”
“But all the deaths that are reported from these places?” Rita argued.
“The numbers we report to the Ministry, aren’t the same ones printed in the papers,” Paul confirmed. “Somewhere along the way they get inflated… a lot. We had one death last year, and that was a teenage werewolf who was badly bitten and didn’t survive the first transformation. The healers did everything they could.”
“So, Remus is all right?” Sirius asked quietly.
“He was alive this morning,” Paul replied as he pointed his wand at the door of a building marked ‘MAXIMUM SECURITY’ and murmured the incantation to open it. “This way.”
Sirius followed Paul down the corridor, looking about curiously. The building was plain, and there was a vaguely familiar tang to the air.
“Blood,” Romulus whispered.
Sirius nodded in response.
“Can’t be helped during a full moon,” Paul told them. “We have more than two dozen werewolves in here. That’s two dozen broken noses every time they change, and a whole host of other injuries throughout the night. It’ll be cleaned up tomorrow.”
“Why did you agree to help us?” Romulus asked.
Paul stopped at a door with a glass window, his hand resting on the handle. “I can’t tell apart most of the werewolves in here, not on a full moon night anyway. I can pick out a few of them, the white wolf’s Lesley, the black one with grey streaks is Aaron, but most look very similar to each other.”
“So?”
“But even though he looks like the rest, I can pick out Lupin within an hour of the change.”
A feeling of cold dread was spreading in Sirius’s gut as he gave voice to his question. “Why?”
Paul didn’t answer. He opened the door marked ‘EMPLOYEES & WEREWOLVES ONLY’ with a non-verbal spell and let them inside.
“This is it?” Sirius asked.
Paul nodded. “Well, come on then. I can’t leave this door open all night. It’ll set off an alarm if I do.”
The werewolves were all caged separately. The cages weren’t as large as the Lupins’ basement, but they weren’t exactly tiny. There was enough room for the werewolves to move about, and they might even manage to fit two in a cage if space was limited. That didn’t seem to be the case at the moment though, and the first half dozen cages were actually empty.
“They all look the same,” Rita said as they passed several tawny coloured wolves, each of which immediately attacked the barriers as they approached.
“You don’t use the forest smells spell here?” Sirius asked.
“We’re only allowed to use Ministry approved spells to cage them,” Paul explained. “That one’s still going through the system. If it makes it through, we should be able to use it in a year or two.”
Sirius shook his head at the Ministry bureaucracy.
“How will we know which one to take?” Rita asked.
“You’re not taking the wolf,” Paul pointed out impatiently.
“You mean we have to wait here all night?” Rita squealed. For the first time since they had arrived she looked less than enthusiastic about her participation.
“No one’s forcing you to stay,” Sirius told her as they continued on their way.
Rita continued to grumble, but clearly decided to stick it out.
“You didn’t think we’d actually release him in his werewolf form?” Sirius asked with astonishment.
“I thought you’d slip him that potion you’ve helped invent,” Rita replied. “Then he’d have his mind and wouldn’t be dangerous. That is what it does, isn’t it?”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s what it does, but it has to be taken in regular doses in the week up to the full moon. It wouldn’t be any use giving it to him tonight. That was explained in all the literature that was handed out before the conference; didn’t you read any of it?”
Rita huffed a little more, but Sirius didn’t even hear the rest of her complaints, because they had reached Remus’s cage.
He knew immediately what Paul had meant about recognising Remus after he had changed.
Even on the worst nights, Sirius couldn’t remember ever having seen Moony so angry and agitated.
The werewolf was attacking the barrier and himself; he was so furious he hadn’t even noticed that Sirius was there.
The wolves in the neighbouring cages were howling in unison with Moony, his anger and despair feeding their own.
“Moony,” Sirius cried, his voice barely carrying over the sound of the howls. “Moony, I’m here now, it’s okay, I’m here.”
“He can’t understand you,” Rita said impatiently. “He’s a wolf, an animal. He doesn’t know who you are.”
Sirius glared at her. “He knows me; even as a wolf, he knows who I am.”
Rita looked unconvinced, although Paul was nodding in agreement.
“Why didn’t you tell us it was this bad?” Romulus asked. He crouched down by Sirius, but Moony didn’t notice him either.
“Lupin has had it bad every month,” Paul explained. “But not as bad as this. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that something’s happened to upset him.”
“Shit!” Romulus swore, prompting Sirius to tear his eyes away from Moony to look at the older man.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s my fault,” Romulus whispered. “I came to visit him and I showed him the article about you getting married.”
“The article about me what?” Sirius choked out.
“Oh, it was a lovely announcement,” Rita chimed in. “The long-awaited wedding of the Black family heir will need a full page article though. Maybe with a few photos of the happy couple.”
Sirius swore under his breath. “What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped.
“Your wedding in the autumn,” Rita replied. “The announcement was in all the papers, though the Prophet was the first to report it, naturally.”
“Rita!” Sirius cut her off before she got even more carried away. “You do remember why we’re here, right? We’re here to get Remus, the bloke I intend to spend the rest of my life with, not some stupid bird my parents have tried to foist off on me.”
Rita looked a little deflated, but continued to scribble down notes for her story.
“It’s my fault,” Romulus repeated miserably, his voice filled with self-loathing. “I should never have told him.”
Sirius shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do about it now,” he pointed out. “Let’s just hope he calms down before he kills himself.”
Moony didn’t stay oblivious to Sirius’s presence all night, but he was far from calm when he saw him on the other side of the barrier. He charged towards him again and again. Sirius supposed that at least the bruises were less likely to be life threatening than the self-inflicted bites.
Paul continued on his rounds, checking on the rest of the werewolves, none of whom were in as bad a way as Moony. Rita, who Sirius had hoped would disappear from boredom, stuck around, making a total nuisance of herself with impertinent questions and ridiculous suggestions.
Sirius and Romulus never moved from the edge of Moony’s cage.
Eventually the werewolves gave their final howls for the night, and Sirius waited impatiently for Remus to be returned to him and the barrier to fall.
The beating of Sirius’s heart muted the sounds of the voices of the other werewolves, as he looked at Remus’s motionless figure. He wondered if he had made it through the night, only for the transformation back to complete what the wolf had started.
The barrier eventually came down and Sirius hurried into the cage, gingerly pulling Remus into his arms. He took out his wand and began the healing spells he now knew by heart, sealing one wound after another.
“Come on, Remus,” he urged. “We can’t break you out if you’re unconscious.”
Romulus was at Remus’s other side, using his own wand to help Sirius, before tugging of his cloak and carefully putting it around his brother’s shoulders.
Finally, Remus opened his eyes and goggled up at him. “Sirius?” he whispered.
“Who else has such rotten timing?” Sirius asked with a small smile. “Anyone else would have got you out of here before the full moon.”
“Is that what you’re doing here?” Remus asked. He struggled to sit up, but it was only Sirius’s arm that prevented him from falling back onto the damp stone floor.
“Of course we’ve come to get you out of here,” Romulus promised. “We need to be quick though. We’re going to use the confusion of the werewolves returning to their wing to walk you out of here.”
“It’s lucky really that you’re always in a worse condition than the rest of them,” Paul added. “The others are always back eating breakfast before you’re even on your feet again.” He passed Remus several potions from the trolley he had produced, which he struggled to get down his throat.
“Where are your clothes?” Sirius asked. “And what about your wand?”
“My clothes are back in B Section,” Remus replied after he had passed the final empty vial back to Paul. “We have to undress there. My wand was taken from me as soon as I got here. It’s probably being held by the Governor.”
“Can we get it back?” Sirius asked Paul.
He shook his head, and was clearly unwilling to risk it. “I’ll let you out through the maintenance workers’ entrance,” Paul whispered before turning to Remus. “You can get some maintenance robes on the way. Can you walk?”
Sirius helped him to his feet, but Remus stumbled almost immediately.
“Damn,” Paul muttered. “It he can’t walk, we can’t pass him off as a worker.”
“What’s that?” a young man Sirius didn’t recognise asked.
All heads had turned to face the newcomer, who, Sirius guessed from the lack of clothing, was also a werewolf.
“You know the rules, Winters,” Paul reminded him. “Werewolves are to report immediately back to B Section after the full moon, wash, dress and then go to breakfast.”
“Remus,” Winters hissed with annoyance. “You’ll never get away with it. You know you’ll be caught within twenty four hours if you try to escape.”
Remus, still leaning on Sirius, shook his head slowly. “I can’t stay here, Aaron. You said it yourself, I won’t last a year.”
“I didn’t mean you should try and escape!”
“We don’t have time for fighting,” Romulus snapped, putting his arm around Remus to help him keep on his feet.
“We’re not fighting,” Remus assured him.
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Romulus muttered as he carefully steered his brother out of the cage.
“How do you feel?” Rita asked, as she stepped in front of the three men, effectively blocking their path.
Remus ignored her and turned to Sirius instead. “Any particular reason you brought Rita along?” he asked conversationally.
“I’m covering the story,” Rita explained, continuing to scribble away on the parchment.
“Terrific!” Remus muttered irritably. “It’d be nice to go one year without hitting the headlines.”
“You’re feeling better,” Sirius said. “That’s the irritation I know and love.”
“You do?” Remus asked. “Then why did you leave me here so long? Was it something I did?”
Sirius could hear the underlying bitterness in the questions and shook his head immediately. “Never.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Romulus pointed out, attempting to quicken their pace as they followed after Paul.
“I have to know,” Remus insisted, stalling the three of them as he turned to Sirius. “Why did you leave me?” he asked, his voice breaking with a sob.
“Later,” Romulus said.
“No,” Remus snapped, choking on his sobs, his face damp with the tears that he couldn’t seem to hold back.
“They told me you were dead,” Sirius said, knowing that Remus wouldn’t be satisfied, and wouldn’t get moving, until he had an explanation for Sirius’s abandonment.
“Dead?” Remus echoed.
“They lied to me,” Sirius replied. “They all lied to me. My parents, my grandparents, even Regulus. I swear I had no idea.”
Remus nodded and gave Sirius’s hand a squeeze. He believed him. There was no question about it, and even if he hadn’t, he was far too tired to argue. He trusted Sirius; he always had. And if there was one thing he knew about, it was betrayal by those who were supposed to love you.
“Now, let’s get you out of here,” Sirius said.
“In a minute,” Remus replied, still not walking forward.
“We don’t have a minute,” Paul pointed out.
Remus ignored him as he pulled Sirius into a tight hug.
Sirius gave a small sigh as he hugged him back. Remus didn’t have to explain; it wasn’t necessary. Sirius knew that he simply needed to hold him and be held, just for a few moments. He understood because he felt the same way.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”
He could feel Remus’s tremors easing, and he rubbed his back soothingly.
He could hear Rita sighing and the scratching of her quill, but he didn’t care. He had Remus in his arms and that was all that mattered.
Finally, Remus pulled back and looked up at him. “Feeling better?” he asked, and Remus nodded.
“Are we all ready now?” Paul asked impatiently. “Only we’re going to get caught if we delay much longer.”
“I think you’ll find you are caught,” a cold voice announced. “Taking a little trip are we, Lupin?”
-
Chapter 74
Summary for the new readers watching my journal: An AU Remus/Sirius story set in a world where an eleven year old werewolf named Remus Lupin never got his Hogwarts invitation, and where Sirius Black was not accepted by the rest of the Gryffindors. The two outcasts form a friendship despite overwhelming odds, but will their friendship survive when Sirius finds himself falling in love with his best friend...his friend who wants nothing more than to be 'normal', despite the passion he feels for the heir to the Noble House of Black.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
To Chase After Forever After (PG13)
Sirius had seen Romulus angry once before, and the memory of the morning on the day following Remus’s thirteenth birthday came back to him clearly.
It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who was recalling that particular morning.
“Do you remember what I said to you the morning after you discovered Remus’s secret?” Romulus glared at Sirius, but he didn’t wait for an answer. “I told you that there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my brother, and that if anything happened to him because of you, I’d track you down. I knew that sooner or later you’d show your face in Diagon Alley; all I had to do was wait.”
Sirius tried to find his voice, but speech seemed to have failed him completely.
“Rom?” a female voice called out. Though Sirius thought the voice sounded familiar, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the furious face of Romulus Lupin.
“Can I interrupt?” Rita asked with a cheerfulness of spirit that the situation certainly didn’t warrant. “It seems to me that you both are on the same side here, so perhaps we might like to avoid being arrested for brawling… again.”
“My brother’s a prisoner because of you,” Romulus hissed.
“I…”
“You deserted him when he needed you most.”
“I…”
“You broke his heart.”
“I…”
“You - ”
But Sirius never knew what other accusation Romulus was about to make because Rita interrupted him. “It isn’t Sirius’s fault,” she said, and Sirius felt a surge of unexpected gratitude for her. “He’s as much a victim as Remus in this whole conspiracy.”
Romulus turned to look at Rita, raising a single eyebrow in question. “A conspiracy, is it?” he asked sarcastically.
“Your family and mine,” Sirius whispered. “I only found out this morning. They deceived me, kept me blind and let me believe Remus was…” He couldn’t bring himself to complete the sentence.
“Let you believe Remus was what?” Romulus asked. “That he’s a monster without feelings? That he didn’t love you any more? Didn’t you think he deserved an explanation? You said you loved him, then you do this to him!”
“They told him Remus was dead,” Rita explained quietly. “That he hadn’t survived the accident.”
“And Sirius somehow managed to miss all the reports in the paper?” Romulus asked sarcastically. “Clearly he’s recovered his sight, which makes that a little difficult to believe.”
“His sight was restored this morning.”
“This morning?” Romulus echoed, looking at Sirius for confirmation.
Sirius nodded slowly. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“Blind or not, you could have made the effort to find out.”
“I thought he was dead,” Sirius whispered. “I was barely even making the effort to survive each day.”
“You should have done more to find him.”
“I visited his bloody grave,” Sirius shouted. “I… I…” His voice began to tremble as he realised that he should never have believed what his family had told him. He should have moved heaven and hell to discover the truth. He should have pushed his depression aside and exposed his parents’ lies for what they were. He felt filled with shame as he realised how little he had done in the months since the accident. Other than working on the Wolfsbane Potion, he had done little more than survive, quietly ensconced in his rooms. He could have done so much more, had he simply made the effort.
Romulus drew in a deep breath and took a step backwards. The anger was almost gone from his eyes and as he stepped away, Sirius could see that the female voice he had heard was that of Alana.
“Perhaps we should take this off the street,” Alana suggested quietly.
“Our place?” Romulus replied.
“My flat’s just round the corner,” Sirius argued.
“Very well,” Romulus agreed, and the four of them set off for Cauldron Close.
The flat looked almost exactly the same as it had the last time Sirius had seen it. The only difference was the thick layer of dust that coated every surface.
“I’m surprised you didn’t sell the place,” Romulus commented while Rita pulled out her wand and pointed it at one of the dusty chairs. Alana brushed a stray cobweb away from the sofa and sat down on it, Romulus sitting close beside her.
Sirius didn’t bother cleaning away the dust on the chair he chose. The state of his flat was the least of his concerns. “If I’d sold it, it would have been like admitting something, something I didn’t want to. It was easier to leave it as it was.”
Romulus nodded thoughtfully, understandingly, and Sirius saw the last of his anger finally vanish from his eyes.
“How is it you’re here?” Sirius finally asked. “Alive and well and…?”
“Corporeal?” Romulus supplied with a grin.
“Huh?” Rita looked around the room in some confusion. Sirius caught her look and smiled at her.
“I was sort of a ghost the last time Sirius saw me,” Romulus explained. “Surely you saw me around Hogwarts?”
Rita shook her head.
“How about at the Wizengamot during Remus’s trials?”
Rita shook her head again and shrugged. Sirius quietly mused that for a reporter she was remarkably unobservant.
“Sort of?” Sirius questioned, not concerned in the least about whether Rita remembered Romulus or not.
“Well, I was in spirit form,” Romulus agreed. “Just not exactly dead.”
“But how?”
Romulus sighed and explained, as briefly as he could, how Dumbledore had taught him to escape from his body in order to replenish his happy memories during his time in Azkaban.
Sirius could barely believe it, but the evidence was sitting right across from him. “Are you saying that you’ve really been in Azkaban all this time?” he asked.
“My body’s been there. Just I’ve not been in it as much as I should have.” Romulus shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell us? Or at least tell Remus?”
“How do you know he didn’t know?” Rita asked, her quill already flying across the page.
“Because it might have gone wrong,” Romulus replied quietly, and he explained the risks he had taken in much the same way as he had explained it all to Remus.
“He’d have wanted to know,” Sirius snapped. “You saw him after you first came back, you know how upset he was, he blamed himself for your death!”
“And if I’d died doing this, he’d have blamed himself even more, because I’d have died whilst looking over him.”
“You should have told him!”
“What’s done is done,” Alana quietly interceded. “Rom had his reasons for what he did, and for why he didn’t tell you.”
Romulus turned to smile at the young muggle. “Thanks, love.”
“So, you two are sweethearts?” Rita asked cheerfully, quill at the ready again. “That’s so adorable.”
Romulus frowned momentarily at Rita before turning back to Sirius. “Why’s she here?”
“Sirius has promised me an exclusive,” Rita replied, before Sirius could open his mouth.
“She’s here to help get Remus out of the camp,” Sirius amended. “She has a contact who works there who owes her a favour.”
“And in return, I get an exclusive.” Rita grinned widely. “So, did you two know each other when Romulus was a spirit? How did you meet? Did she know you were really alive? Or did she think you were truly star-crossed?”
“I was a spirit, we fell in love, I told her everything, I got released and came back,” Romulus told Rita shortly.
“Care to elaborate?” Rita asked.
“No.”
Rita turned to Alana instead. “So, how do you feel about ex-cons?”
Sirius rolled his eyes as Alana blushed and stammered and turned to Romulus for help. “I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out,” he muttered. “You were ageing and I didn’t even notice. And your hair - I knew it was getting longer.”
“There aren’t any barbers in Azkaban,” Romulus said with a chuckle. “Each time I left my body I’d appear as my body was at the time. I couldn’t stop ageing or anything like that; I just had to hope you didn’t pay too much attention to me. Not a great problem since you couldn’t take your eyes off Remus.”
“It’s not like I noticed either,” Alana added.
“You knew me for less than a year though,” Romulus pointed out. “And you’re not exactly used to ghosts and the like popping up all over the place.”
“You’re not?” Rita asked. “Are you a muggle? How did you ever meet each other? A ghost and a muggle and a werewolf and the Black heir…”
“Do we really need her here?” Romulus asked impatiently.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Sirius replied. “We’re meeting her contact when his shift finishes, and then we’re going to see about breaking Remus out.”
“You think Remus will want to be on the run again?” Romulus asked.
“Better that, than a prisoner in one of those camps,” Sirius stated. “Are you coming with us?”
Romulus grinned widely. “Well, it’s not like anyone else is going to keep you two out of trouble?”
“I’ll wait back at our place,” Alana said. “I have to collect Eve from her grandmother’s soon anyway.”
“You’re okay to get back there by train?” Romulus asked.
“I managed it for years,” Alana told him with a laugh. “Just bring him home safely.”
Romulus nodded and gently squeezed Alana’s hand. “We will,” he assured her.
-o-xXx-o-
“So, you and Alana?” Sirius commented quietly as he watched Rita shamelessly flirting with Paul.
“Hmm?”
“Been making up for lost time?” he teased.
Romulus blushed and smiled to himself, confirming Sirius’s suspicions.
“Did I imagine seeing an engagement ring on her finger?”
“No.” Romulus grinned.
“Set a date, yet?”
“No, we’re waiting until Remus can be Best Man.”
“How come you didn’t try to break him out before now?”
“I was trying to get him out through the official channels.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Not for me. My application to take care of him was rejected earlier this week, because of my record.”
“Could I apply to get him out properly?” Sirius asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” Romulus replied after thinking about the question. “Spouses can apply, but I don’t know if a centaur bonding counts. The Warlocks who heard Remus’s case seemed amenable to the idea of you supervising him, if you’d been there to apply in person.”
“Maybe we should wait and get him out of here officially?” Sirius suggested.
Romulus shook his head. “There’s no time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each full moon that Remus goes through brings him closer to death. Without you with him, he’s suffering more than he ever has.”
Sirius looked at the full moon hanging above them and imagined he heard Moony’s howl coming from deep within the camp. They couldn’t wait, not when Remus’s life was at stake. “Guess we’re breaking him out then.”
“Looks like we’re in,” Romulus said as Rita waved them over.
Sirius and Romulus approached the others.
“There’s not going to be a break out tonight,” Paul told them immediately.
Sirius looked up at the full moon overhead again. “I know,” he replied. “But can you get us in? I have to be with him.”
Paul nodded. “This way.”
“Remus is in B Section,” Rita said, as they followed after Paul. “It’s pretty low security in that section, but he gets transferred to the maximum security wing during full moons.”
“Low security or not, it’s still a prison,” Sirius pointed out testily. “And James and Peter aren’t here, yet.”
“You don’t even know that they got your letter,” Rita pointed out. “I thought you wanted to get Remus out of here as quickly as possible?”
“I do,” Sirius nodded, receiving a nod of approval from Romulus. He knew that Remus’s brother was in no mood to wait any longer either. His decision made, he followed the others into the camp. “I hate to think of Remus in this place.”
“It’s not that bad,” Paul commented from ahead of them. “These places get reported badly in the press, but that’s just the Ministry sticking their noses in, making sure people know that the inmates here are dangerous. Paint them as violent and animalistic, and no one questions them being here.”
“The Prophet always prints the absolute truth,” Rita piped up with a haughty sniff.
“Sure it does,” Paul muttered loudly. “Can’t you hear the animals tearing each other apart already?”
“Erm.”
“This is A Section,” Paul said as he pointed to the building ahead of them. “That’s the banshees’ section; not exactly a battle ground, is it?”
“But all the deaths that are reported from these places?” Rita argued.
“The numbers we report to the Ministry, aren’t the same ones printed in the papers,” Paul confirmed. “Somewhere along the way they get inflated… a lot. We had one death last year, and that was a teenage werewolf who was badly bitten and didn’t survive the first transformation. The healers did everything they could.”
“So, Remus is all right?” Sirius asked quietly.
“He was alive this morning,” Paul replied as he pointed his wand at the door of a building marked ‘MAXIMUM SECURITY’ and murmured the incantation to open it. “This way.”
Sirius followed Paul down the corridor, looking about curiously. The building was plain, and there was a vaguely familiar tang to the air.
“Blood,” Romulus whispered.
Sirius nodded in response.
“Can’t be helped during a full moon,” Paul told them. “We have more than two dozen werewolves in here. That’s two dozen broken noses every time they change, and a whole host of other injuries throughout the night. It’ll be cleaned up tomorrow.”
“Why did you agree to help us?” Romulus asked.
Paul stopped at a door with a glass window, his hand resting on the handle. “I can’t tell apart most of the werewolves in here, not on a full moon night anyway. I can pick out a few of them, the white wolf’s Lesley, the black one with grey streaks is Aaron, but most look very similar to each other.”
“So?”
“But even though he looks like the rest, I can pick out Lupin within an hour of the change.”
A feeling of cold dread was spreading in Sirius’s gut as he gave voice to his question. “Why?”
Paul didn’t answer. He opened the door marked ‘EMPLOYEES & WEREWOLVES ONLY’ with a non-verbal spell and let them inside.
“This is it?” Sirius asked.
Paul nodded. “Well, come on then. I can’t leave this door open all night. It’ll set off an alarm if I do.”
The werewolves were all caged separately. The cages weren’t as large as the Lupins’ basement, but they weren’t exactly tiny. There was enough room for the werewolves to move about, and they might even manage to fit two in a cage if space was limited. That didn’t seem to be the case at the moment though, and the first half dozen cages were actually empty.
“They all look the same,” Rita said as they passed several tawny coloured wolves, each of which immediately attacked the barriers as they approached.
“You don’t use the forest smells spell here?” Sirius asked.
“We’re only allowed to use Ministry approved spells to cage them,” Paul explained. “That one’s still going through the system. If it makes it through, we should be able to use it in a year or two.”
Sirius shook his head at the Ministry bureaucracy.
“How will we know which one to take?” Rita asked.
“You’re not taking the wolf,” Paul pointed out impatiently.
“You mean we have to wait here all night?” Rita squealed. For the first time since they had arrived she looked less than enthusiastic about her participation.
“No one’s forcing you to stay,” Sirius told her as they continued on their way.
Rita continued to grumble, but clearly decided to stick it out.
“You didn’t think we’d actually release him in his werewolf form?” Sirius asked with astonishment.
“I thought you’d slip him that potion you’ve helped invent,” Rita replied. “Then he’d have his mind and wouldn’t be dangerous. That is what it does, isn’t it?”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s what it does, but it has to be taken in regular doses in the week up to the full moon. It wouldn’t be any use giving it to him tonight. That was explained in all the literature that was handed out before the conference; didn’t you read any of it?”
Rita huffed a little more, but Sirius didn’t even hear the rest of her complaints, because they had reached Remus’s cage.
He knew immediately what Paul had meant about recognising Remus after he had changed.
Even on the worst nights, Sirius couldn’t remember ever having seen Moony so angry and agitated.
The werewolf was attacking the barrier and himself; he was so furious he hadn’t even noticed that Sirius was there.
The wolves in the neighbouring cages were howling in unison with Moony, his anger and despair feeding their own.
“Moony,” Sirius cried, his voice barely carrying over the sound of the howls. “Moony, I’m here now, it’s okay, I’m here.”
“He can’t understand you,” Rita said impatiently. “He’s a wolf, an animal. He doesn’t know who you are.”
Sirius glared at her. “He knows me; even as a wolf, he knows who I am.”
Rita looked unconvinced, although Paul was nodding in agreement.
“Why didn’t you tell us it was this bad?” Romulus asked. He crouched down by Sirius, but Moony didn’t notice him either.
“Lupin has had it bad every month,” Paul explained. “But not as bad as this. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that something’s happened to upset him.”
“Shit!” Romulus swore, prompting Sirius to tear his eyes away from Moony to look at the older man.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s my fault,” Romulus whispered. “I came to visit him and I showed him the article about you getting married.”
“The article about me what?” Sirius choked out.
“Oh, it was a lovely announcement,” Rita chimed in. “The long-awaited wedding of the Black family heir will need a full page article though. Maybe with a few photos of the happy couple.”
Sirius swore under his breath. “What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped.
“Your wedding in the autumn,” Rita replied. “The announcement was in all the papers, though the Prophet was the first to report it, naturally.”
“Rita!” Sirius cut her off before she got even more carried away. “You do remember why we’re here, right? We’re here to get Remus, the bloke I intend to spend the rest of my life with, not some stupid bird my parents have tried to foist off on me.”
Rita looked a little deflated, but continued to scribble down notes for her story.
“It’s my fault,” Romulus repeated miserably, his voice filled with self-loathing. “I should never have told him.”
Sirius shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do about it now,” he pointed out. “Let’s just hope he calms down before he kills himself.”
Moony didn’t stay oblivious to Sirius’s presence all night, but he was far from calm when he saw him on the other side of the barrier. He charged towards him again and again. Sirius supposed that at least the bruises were less likely to be life threatening than the self-inflicted bites.
Paul continued on his rounds, checking on the rest of the werewolves, none of whom were in as bad a way as Moony. Rita, who Sirius had hoped would disappear from boredom, stuck around, making a total nuisance of herself with impertinent questions and ridiculous suggestions.
Sirius and Romulus never moved from the edge of Moony’s cage.
Eventually the werewolves gave their final howls for the night, and Sirius waited impatiently for Remus to be returned to him and the barrier to fall.
The beating of Sirius’s heart muted the sounds of the voices of the other werewolves, as he looked at Remus’s motionless figure. He wondered if he had made it through the night, only for the transformation back to complete what the wolf had started.
The barrier eventually came down and Sirius hurried into the cage, gingerly pulling Remus into his arms. He took out his wand and began the healing spells he now knew by heart, sealing one wound after another.
“Come on, Remus,” he urged. “We can’t break you out if you’re unconscious.”
Romulus was at Remus’s other side, using his own wand to help Sirius, before tugging of his cloak and carefully putting it around his brother’s shoulders.
Finally, Remus opened his eyes and goggled up at him. “Sirius?” he whispered.
“Who else has such rotten timing?” Sirius asked with a small smile. “Anyone else would have got you out of here before the full moon.”
“Is that what you’re doing here?” Remus asked. He struggled to sit up, but it was only Sirius’s arm that prevented him from falling back onto the damp stone floor.
“Of course we’ve come to get you out of here,” Romulus promised. “We need to be quick though. We’re going to use the confusion of the werewolves returning to their wing to walk you out of here.”
“It’s lucky really that you’re always in a worse condition than the rest of them,” Paul added. “The others are always back eating breakfast before you’re even on your feet again.” He passed Remus several potions from the trolley he had produced, which he struggled to get down his throat.
“Where are your clothes?” Sirius asked. “And what about your wand?”
“My clothes are back in B Section,” Remus replied after he had passed the final empty vial back to Paul. “We have to undress there. My wand was taken from me as soon as I got here. It’s probably being held by the Governor.”
“Can we get it back?” Sirius asked Paul.
He shook his head, and was clearly unwilling to risk it. “I’ll let you out through the maintenance workers’ entrance,” Paul whispered before turning to Remus. “You can get some maintenance robes on the way. Can you walk?”
Sirius helped him to his feet, but Remus stumbled almost immediately.
“Damn,” Paul muttered. “It he can’t walk, we can’t pass him off as a worker.”
“What’s that?” a young man Sirius didn’t recognise asked.
All heads had turned to face the newcomer, who, Sirius guessed from the lack of clothing, was also a werewolf.
“You know the rules, Winters,” Paul reminded him. “Werewolves are to report immediately back to B Section after the full moon, wash, dress and then go to breakfast.”
“Remus,” Winters hissed with annoyance. “You’ll never get away with it. You know you’ll be caught within twenty four hours if you try to escape.”
Remus, still leaning on Sirius, shook his head slowly. “I can’t stay here, Aaron. You said it yourself, I won’t last a year.”
“I didn’t mean you should try and escape!”
“We don’t have time for fighting,” Romulus snapped, putting his arm around Remus to help him keep on his feet.
“We’re not fighting,” Remus assured him.
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Romulus muttered as he carefully steered his brother out of the cage.
“How do you feel?” Rita asked, as she stepped in front of the three men, effectively blocking their path.
Remus ignored her and turned to Sirius instead. “Any particular reason you brought Rita along?” he asked conversationally.
“I’m covering the story,” Rita explained, continuing to scribble away on the parchment.
“Terrific!” Remus muttered irritably. “It’d be nice to go one year without hitting the headlines.”
“You’re feeling better,” Sirius said. “That’s the irritation I know and love.”
“You do?” Remus asked. “Then why did you leave me here so long? Was it something I did?”
Sirius could hear the underlying bitterness in the questions and shook his head immediately. “Never.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Romulus pointed out, attempting to quicken their pace as they followed after Paul.
“I have to know,” Remus insisted, stalling the three of them as he turned to Sirius. “Why did you leave me?” he asked, his voice breaking with a sob.
“Later,” Romulus said.
“No,” Remus snapped, choking on his sobs, his face damp with the tears that he couldn’t seem to hold back.
“They told me you were dead,” Sirius said, knowing that Remus wouldn’t be satisfied, and wouldn’t get moving, until he had an explanation for Sirius’s abandonment.
“Dead?” Remus echoed.
“They lied to me,” Sirius replied. “They all lied to me. My parents, my grandparents, even Regulus. I swear I had no idea.”
Remus nodded and gave Sirius’s hand a squeeze. He believed him. There was no question about it, and even if he hadn’t, he was far too tired to argue. He trusted Sirius; he always had. And if there was one thing he knew about, it was betrayal by those who were supposed to love you.
“Now, let’s get you out of here,” Sirius said.
“In a minute,” Remus replied, still not walking forward.
“We don’t have a minute,” Paul pointed out.
Remus ignored him as he pulled Sirius into a tight hug.
Sirius gave a small sigh as he hugged him back. Remus didn’t have to explain; it wasn’t necessary. Sirius knew that he simply needed to hold him and be held, just for a few moments. He understood because he felt the same way.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”
He could feel Remus’s tremors easing, and he rubbed his back soothingly.
He could hear Rita sighing and the scratching of her quill, but he didn’t care. He had Remus in his arms and that was all that mattered.
Finally, Remus pulled back and looked up at him. “Feeling better?” he asked, and Remus nodded.
“Are we all ready now?” Paul asked impatiently. “Only we’re going to get caught if we delay much longer.”
“I think you’ll find you are caught,” a cold voice announced. “Taking a little trip are we, Lupin?”
-
Chapter 74