[Halloween Fics] - TWO
Remus Lupin did not enjoy walking through the woods at night. It brought back too many unpleasant memories of full moons past, too may close calls and near misses. Even now, when the moon was only a waning sliver in the sky, Remus still shuddered at the thought.
One hand clenched tightly around his wand, Remus tramped through the underbrush. His stomach had tangled itself into knots from worry and he felt at any moment that he might be sick. Nothing from Sirius in well over a week - no owl, no form of correspondence at all. Remus was acutely aware of how dangerous Sirius’ position was and that it would be difficult to send regular post, but… It wasn’t like Sirius to disappear for so long.
Pity the moon isn’t really full… It would probably actually be easier to track him as a wolf. Remus felt his stomach lurch as he thought the words and he was suddenly more convinced than ever that he was going to be sick.
Get a hold of yourself, Remus… You have to be ready to help in case Sirius’s in trouble.
Remus didn’t know why he was resolutely marching in one specific direction - perhaps his wolf’s instincts had rubbed off on his normal shape as well. In either case, he soon found himself stumbling out of the tall grass into a clearing facing a cave. He could sense something… wrong about the place. A strange smell that he couldn’t identify filled his nostrils.
“Sirius?” He called into the darkness of the cave. “Sirius, it’s Remus…”
When there was no answer after several moments, Remus stepped into the cave. The feeling of wrong-ness and the strange smell intensified to the point of actually making Remus gag.
“Sirius!” He called again, louder this time. “Sirius, where are you?! Lumos!” He muttered the last to his wand, for the interior of the cave had grown too dark to see.
The floor of the cave was dark with blood mixed with dirt and there were smears of red on the walls of the cave’s narrow passage. Remus realized with a deep frown that the marks were blood and that the majority of them were smeared handprints
“Moony… You’re too late…”
Remus nearly dropped his wand as Sirius’ voice came echoing through the passage to him.
“Sirius! Where are you?!” Remus began to move forward again, hope surging through his chest at last.
“Stay away…”
“What the hell do you mean? I can’t leave you here!” Remus turned a sharp corner and nearly dropped his wand in horror.
Sirius… if you could still call him Sirius… was curled in a heap on the floor of the cave, his body appearing to be nothing more than a hollow shell drenched in blood. He was emaciated - his cheekbones protruded horrifyingly, as did his ribs and hips, even through what remained of his clothing. But it was the blood… it was the blood that scared Remus.
It trickled from his nose and mouth and dripped off his jaw onto his matted chest. There were rusty tracks on his face from where blood had previously flowed. Even now, Remus could see blood drip from the corner of Sirius’ eye and trickle across the well-worn path. The patches of skin not soaked with blood were covered in red spots.
Sirius looked up at Remus with red eyes and pulled his thin lips back in a ghastly attempt at a smile.
“Don’t get near me, Moony… It’ll kill you too…”
“Sirius,” Remus whispered, unable to move. “What happened?”
“Some… Muggle illness… It started a week ago and now… Sorry I couldn’t write. The owl flew away when I started to bleed… Smart creature, really…” He leaned over and opened his mouth to vomit blood on the ground.
“Let me help you… If it’s just an illness, we can get someone to fix you… Dumbledore or Madame Pomfrey will know what it is!” Remus took a step towards Sirius, but was stopped by Sirius’ sudden howl.
“NO! Don’t come any closer, Remus! Do you think I want you to die like this?!” His voice suddenly went hoarse and he coughed up more blood. “But you have to do something… Make sure it doesn’t spread.” His bloody eyes looked up at Remus’ wand meaningfully.
Remus’ hands actually shook as he drew his wand.
“Avada Kedavra.”
He turned away as he said the words - he couldn’t watch his best friend die. With his eyes still closed, he whispered “Incendio.”
Remus turned and began to walk out of the cave, knowing that he had just left the best part of himself in there to be burned as well.
~