FIC: Once in a Blue Moon - Ch 12 (WIP)
Start of the story, including summary, full ratings, warnings, pairings etc. Here
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
We Will Fight ‘Til the End (PG)
“Delivering this stray,” said Aberforth by way of greeting when Romulus opened the door.
“Sirius!” Remus called from the kitchen. “I didn’t think you’d come until tomorrow.”
“That makes two of us,” Aberforth muttered as he delivered Sirius into the house and took his leave.
“You’d better come through here,” Romulus said as he pointed Sirius towards the kitchen. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight either.”
“I wanted to be here,” Sirius explained nervously. He hoped that he wasn’t going to be shown the door because of his unexpected arrival.
“But there’s nothing you can do until morning,” Remus pointed out. “Seems a bit silly to be here all night.”
“I wanted to be here,” Sirius repeated.
“Well, there’s no point in my sending you back,” said Romulus with a shrug. “Remus, you should be heading downstairs soon.”
“The moon doesn’t rise for another ten minutes,” Remus argued. “Can’t I talk to Sirius for a few minutes?”
“I’ll come down with you,” Sirius offered. “We can talk for as long as possible that way.”
“No!” Remus shook his head wildly. “You can’t!”
Sirius laughed quietly. “I didn’t mean on your side of the barrier,” he explained, frowning when he realised that his words hadn’t changed Remus’s mind and he was still shaking his head.
“No,” Remus whispered. “You can’t come down there. Rom, make him stay up here!”
“Why do you want to go down there, Sirius?” Romulus asked instead.
“I…” Sirius faltered as he tried to find the words to explain. “I think I need to be down there. I know I saw Moony last month, but I didn’t see the transformation. I think I have to see it, just once…I need to see it. I can’t explain why…”
“It doesn’t seem real, not until you’ve seen it for yourself,” Romulus stated, firmly but quietly. Sirius nodded in agreement.
“But I don’t want you to see it,” Remus muttered.
“I…” Sirius hesitated again. “Please…I swear I won’t be afraid, I won’t hate you…I just need to be there, to see for myself…just this once.”
Remus looked like he was about to argue again, but after several long minutes of contemplation he finally nodded reluctantly and opened the door to the basement.
Sirius followed him down into the darkness. Romulus followed behind them providing light from his wand. “I’ll just light the lamps for you,” he said. Once the room was fully lit, he made his way back up the stairs.
“Rom doesn’t stay down here at night,” Remus explained. Sirius frowned slightly at the comment, recalling how Romulus had been in the basement on the previous full moon. He’d not acted as though that was the first time he’d done such a thing.
Remus didn’t notice his expression though; he was too busy toeing off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Sirius asked.
“Getting undressed,” Remus replied, as though this should be extremely obvious. “You going to turn round?”
“Um, yeah, sorry,” Sirius mumbled as he turned his back to give his friend the privacy he wanted.
“If I leave it too late I end up with a load of sewing to do,” Remus explained. “Like last month. Moony’s kind of destructive and he attacks anything he can get his paws on. Okay, you can look now.”
Sirius turned to see that Remus had now stepped into the part of the room that would be on the other side of the barrier when it appeared. His clothes were in a not particularly neat pile on top of the chest of drawers and he was wrapped up in a ragged looking blanket.
“What’s it like?” Sirius asked, taking a step closer to where Remus was now sitting, leaning against the stone wall. “The change, I mean? Does it hurt?”
“Yeah, it hurts,” Remus whispered. “Not at first, at first it’s just like an itching all over my body as the fur bursts out of my skin. Then everything starts to change and…” His voice trailed off and Sirius could see that he was shivering. He wondered whether it was from the cold or from nerves.
“I can go back upstairs if you want me to,” he offered quietly.
“It’s okay.” Remus sighed. “You can stay.”
Sirius sat down on the floor and wondered what to say in order to pass the last few minutes before the full moon rose.
“Thanks for coming tonight,” Remus offered just before the magical barrier flickered to life with a red glow before it became invisible.
“You’re welcome,” Sirius replied even as Remus began scratching at his skin. “It’s started, hasn’t it?”
Remus nodded as he continued to scratch more and more frantically. “The moon causes the transformation, but as long as the sun’s in the sky, it holds it back.”
Sirius listened as Remus explained and he didn’t fail to notice the other boy’s voice becoming more hoarse and raspier with each word he uttered.
Sirius watched as Remus scratched at his left arm with his right hand. He didn’t notice the wolf claws protruding from the human fingers until after he’d seen the long scratches they’d left.
“Remus, stop scratching!” he ordered.
“Can’t help it,” Remus rasped just before he turned over onto all fours, the wolf claws seeking a grip on the stone floor.
The fur was sprouting all over Remus’s body and Sirius could hear popping sounds as bones were forced out of their sockets and into new positions - some growing longer, some growing shorter. Remus was whimpering as though he was trying not to cry out in pain and Sirius could see the sheen of tears in his brown eyes.
Remus’s face was the last thing to change and Sirius knew that his friend was beyond speech by this point.
Sirius saw the nostrils widening and flinched when a stream of blood began to pour from them. The blood flow was short-lived however and Sirius watched as Remus’s nose became elongated and changed into the snout of a wolf. Remus’s jaw stretched with the snout and Sirius saw a flash of long and deadly teeth.
Most disconcerting were Remus’s eyes, which were still the same brown eyes of his friend, only now they were in the face of the wolf. Sirius wondered if he’d imagined the golden orbs that had stared at him the previous month.
Then the wolf tossed back his head and let loose a piercing howl. Sirius’s hands flew to his ears and only when the sound had stopped did he bring them down again.
He looked at the wolf, Moony, and saw that the last vestige of Remus was gone…the brown eyes were golden, just as they’d been on the night of the last full moon.
Sirius sat down on one of the lower stairs and wondered what to do now. A few minutes later Romulus came back down the stairs and sat down a few stairs above him.
“Remus doesn’t know you come down here at night, does he?” Sirius asked quietly.
“I think he suspects, but he doesn’t know for sure,” Romulus confirmed quietly. “It calms Moony down to have someone down here with him.”
“Why doesn’t he try to attack you?” Sirius asked. “I’ve been reading up on werewolves and they attack humans whenever they can.”
“That’s right. But the barrier has spells on it to prevent the wolf smelling humans on the other side.”
“It does?”
“On the other side of the barrier the wolf can smell the forest, trees, flowers, other animals…it overpowers the scent of humans. As long as Moony can’t smell us, he won’t attack the barrier.”
“Do all werewolves have one of these?” Sirius asked, gesturing vaguely towards the barrier and the spells.
“Those with a conscience have some form of cage for tonight, but this one I built myself. Took nearly a year to get all the spells up. Still can’t deaden the sounds he makes though. Spells to keep the sounds in seem to react badly with the spell for the forest smells…I can’t figure out why…but I’d rather have him making a noise than killing himself by attacking the barrier all night while trying to get to the villagers.”
“Last month…” Sirius began. “Erm…”
“What about it?”
“I heard you talking to Remus when he was…” Sirius gestured towards the pacing wolf. “Does he understand you?”
“Remus doesn’t remember anything I say the next morning,” Romulus replied. “But it helps keep Moony calm. Sometimes I just chat to him about general stuff. Sometimes I read to him. I tried reading text books to him to see if it helped some of the stuff sink in, but no such luck.”
Sirius nodded quietly and smiled at the weak joke.
“I think that sometimes it’s as much for me as for Moony,” Romulus continued with a small sigh.
“Why don’t you tell Remus you come down here?”
“He doesn’t like anyone seeing him in his wolf form. But on the nights I have to work during the full moon he’s always more beaten up than on those where I can sit with him.”
“So, if someone’s down here with him, he’ll not hurt himself?” Sirius asked.
“Not always.” Romulus shook his head sadly. “If Remus is troubled, if something’s bothering him…it’s like the wolf seems to sense it as well.”
“So, if Remus is upset, it makes it worse?”
“That’s about it,” Romulus agreed. “He’s had a few really rough ones the last six months from worrying about you.”
“Me?”
“Worrying about lying to you, worrying about losing your friendship…”
“Oh.” Sirius shifted slightly on the stair and he felt another twinge of guilt at how he’d reacted in his first meeting with Remus after the last full moon.
“Don’t worry about it,” Romulus advised. “Tonight’s not going to be so bad…look…” He pointed towards the wolf that was still pacing the floor, but thankfully not attacking the barrier or himself.
“He cut his arm up with the claws,” Sirius commented after a few minutes of silently watching the wolf.
“How bad?”
“I’m not sure.”
Romulus stood up and jumped over Sirius’s outstretched legs, leaning towards the barrier, his lit wand illuminating the floor. “I can’t see much blood on the floor,” he said after a few moments. “Just a patch over there.”
“That was from his nose,” Sirius explained.
“Good, that always happens. Means his arm can’t be too bad, at least he’s not hit a major artery this time.”
“You mean he has before?”
“Twice now,” Romulus confirmed as he sat back down on the stairs. “Once during the first transformation after I brought him here, and then again the summer before last.”
“When he didn’t get his Hogwarts letter?” Sirius guessed.
“Yeah. He took it pretty badly.”
Sirius didn’t know what to say to that. The ever-present guilt at being able to attend the school, that Remus couldn’t, had rendered him speechless.
“Don’t feel guilty about being able to go there,” said Romulus, causing Sirius to wonder if he’d spoken his thoughts out loud. “It doesn’t help, believe me!”
Sirius nodded silently and approached the barrier once more. “Moony?” he questioned. “Do you mind me being here?”
The wolf looked back at him, baring his teeth and snarling slightly.
“He always does that if you get to close,” Romulus commented. Sirius stepped back a few paces and wondered how Romulus had managed to make it through so many full moons without going mad.
“I’ve not told the Ministry or anyone about you and Remus,” Sirius said. He knew he’d said it before, but for some reason he felt that he should repeat it again now.
“I know,” Romulus smiled. “I’m not worried about you betraying us any more.”
“You’re not?”
“Maybe just a little bit, but not enough to pack up and leave the country.”
“So, you’re moving back in here?”
“I think it’d take the entire centaur herd to prise Remus out of the house now that we’re back here,” Romulus replied with a smile.
Sirius smiled back; his fear that Remus would be taken away was subsiding for the first time in a month.
-o-xXx-o-
Remus woke the next morning, bruised as always but with relatively few cuts. The sun was already up and the barrier gone, so he walked over to retrieve his clothes from the chest of drawers. As he pulled on his jeans he wondered where Sirius was. He hoped that Moony hadn’t scared off his friend at some point during the night.
“Remus?” Romulus called from the top of the stairs. “You okay down there?”
“Yeah, I’m just coming,” Remus yelled back. “Is Sirius still here?”
“He’s eating breakfast,” Romulus shouted. “And if you don’t get a move on, there’ll be none left for you.”
Remus grinned and quickened his pace.
Sirius was sitting at the table, tucking into a plate of scrambled eggs. The moment Remus appeared he put down his fork and grinned. “How’s your arm?” he asked.
Remus looked at the arm in question. The sleeve of his shirt was rolled up to keep the blood off of it but it had clearly stopped bleeding some time ago.
“Let me see,” Romulus briskly ordered. “Hmm, it’s just shallow.” He turned to Sirius. “Have you been taught charms for wound cleansing yet?”
“I’ve been taught the Tersus charm,” Sirius confirmed. “At least I’ve been told the incantation. Madam Pomfrey said the wand movement depended on the wound itself.”
Romulus nodded in agreement. “And what about Profundus Tersus?” he asked.
Sirius shook his head in confusion.
“Okay,” announced Romulus, sounding more like one of the Professors than Sirius had ever heard him. “The Tersus charm cleans open wounds like this one. The wand movement should be such that it will pass over the length of the wound. Like this.” Pulling out his wand, Romulus cast the charm, drawing out the “S” in the incantation so that it lasted as long as the wand was passing over the wound.
“Does it hurt?” Sirius asked Remus who shook his head in reply.
“Now that one is only useful if the wound is open,” Romulus continued. “Sometimes a wound might be bleeding badly and needs sealing right away. In those cases the Profundus Tersus is used because it cleans deeper under the skin.”
“And that one does hurt!” Remus interrupted with a grimace.
Romulus nodded sadly before turning back to Sirius. “How about you try the next one?”
Sirius nodded and moved round to the other side of the table. “Do you have any more cuts?” he asked Remus as he looked him over.
“One on my leg,” Remus said as he pointed to his thigh.
“Then, why the heck did you put your jeans back on?” Romulus asked with impatience. “It only means more washing. Really, Remus!”
Remus muttered something under his breath as he removed his jeans and tossed them at his brother.
“Okay, Sirius…” Romulus said after he’d cast a cursory glance at the cut on Remus’s leg.
Sirius nodded and pointed his wand at the end of the wound. Remus meanwhile was barely taking notice of what he was doing and was instead reaching for a slice of bacon.
“You might want to take a little more notice,” Romulus advised his brother. “Especially since you’ve yet to get the hang of this particular charm in all the months I’ve been trying to drum it into your head.”
“But you know I’m always hungry after the full moon,” Remus replied with a mouthful of bacon.
“And every other morning,” Romulus muttered affectionately.
“I’m just no good at charms,” Remus sighed.
“You did okay with my wand,” Sirius pointed out once he’d finished cleaning the cut.
“Very good,” Romulus commented as he looked at the cut. “It looks like this one will need sealing as well. Have you been told how?”
Sirius shook his head.
“Okay, let me show you,” Romulus said as he batted Remus’s hand away from the last of the bacon in order to access his leg.
Once the cut was sealed, and Remus had confirmed he didn’t have any more scratches that needed tending, the three of them settled back down at the table.
“Sometimes we need to use the potions as well,” Romulus commented. “It looks like last night was a good one though so I’ll have to show you them another time.
Sirius nodded as he turned back to the eggs that had now gone cold.
“Sirius, what’s your wand’s core?” Romulus asked as he poured the teas.
“Dragon heartstring,” Sirius said as he twirled said wand in his hand.
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” Remus asked curiously.
“Dad’s wand was a dragon heartstring,” Romulus explained. “Mum’s was a unicorn hair, same as mine.”
“So that might be why I get on better with Sirius’s wand than yours?” Remus asked.
“Could be,” Romulus replied. “Now eat up, Sirius. I’ll walk you back to the Hog’s Head and see you into the tunnel to the school.”
-o-xXx-o-
Sirius climbed out of the tunnel and into the corridor near the kitchens. He wasn’t too surprised to see the familiar form of the headmaster just a few paces away from him.
“Ah, Mr Black.” Dumbledore smiled at him. “I’d just come down to check on the house elves. Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Yes, Professor,” Sirius replied with a barely concealed sigh at being caught.
“Your friends were wondering where you were when you missed breakfast,” Dumbledore commented as he gestured for Sirius to follow him down the corridor. “You’re going to be late for Transfiguration if you don’t hurry.”
“Aren’t you going to give me a detention for sneaking out again?” Sirius asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Dumbledore chuckled. “I imagine you’ll have accumulated more than enough detentions by the end of your seventh year without my adding to them this morning. But I must ask that you be more careful about how frequently you leave the school grounds.”
“I was only going to go on the nights of the full moon.”
“Precisely.” Dumbledore nodded as though Sirius had hit the nail on the head. “Your friends in Gryffindor are clever enough to notice that. They may begin to suspect something if you aren’t more careful.”
“Are you suggesting I go visit Remus on other nights too?” Sirius asked in surprise.
“I’m not giving you permission to sneak out,” Dumbledore clarified. “You do understand that?”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Very good, very good. Now you’d better hurry to Transfiguration before Professor McGonagall gives you a detention.”
Sirius nodded and made his way towards the Transfiguration classroom, wondering, not for the first time, exactly what it was that Professor Dumbledore wanted him to do.
-o-xXx-o-
If Sirius had thought it was difficult sneaking out for the April full moon, it was nothing compared to the May one.
“Where you going?” James’s voice called out to him just as he made it to the dormitory door.
“The kitchens,” Sirius lied. He’d worry about more questions from the boy when he returned.
“You’re lying,” James accused. “I thought we were friends now. Friends don’t lie to each other. This is the second time you’ve snuck out this month.”
“Fine, I’m not going to the kitchens,” Sirius admitted as he pulled open the door.
“Then where are you going? To see Remus?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“If you keep sneaking out like this, you’ll be expelled.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“I’m coming with you,” James said as he crawled out of bed and fumbled for his glasses.
“You can’t,” Sirius quickly replied. “It’ll only get us both in trouble.”
“Friends get in trouble together,” James pointed out as he pulled his trousers on over his pyjama bottoms.
“I can’t let you do this,” Sirius said as he pulled his wand out.
“’Course you can,” James said. His back was turned to Sirius and he rummaged under his bed for his shirt.
Sirius shook his head in frustration. Two months ago and James wouldn’t have cared if he were sneaking out of the school every night of the week. Now they were - for want of a better word - friends, it was far more difficult to slip away.
James was unnaturally curious and for some reason he was very curious about Remus. In his more despondent moments, Sirius even wondered if James was only pretending to be friends with him in order to find out what he could about the other boy.
Sirius raised his wand and muttered a quick spell that sent James falling face first onto his bed. He’d be furious in the morning, but Remus’s secret would be safe. Remus was his friend; of that he had no doubt. He’d even put up with being enemies with James and Peter again, as long as it meant that Remus and his secret was safe.
-o-xXx-o-
“Last full moon of the term,” Sirius commented quietly as he handed the newly patched up Remus his shirt. “Wish I could be here during the summer.”
“Me too,” Remus replied quietly. “You should be heading back to school.”
“I guess. James is getting really suspicious about where I go and how come I’ve not been expelled. Though at least I didn’t have to stun him this month. He really hates it when I do that. Last time he didn’t speak to me for three days.”
“You won’t tell him about me, will you?”
Sirius looked at Remus in shock. “Of course not. I’d never tell anyone about you.”
“Not even if you become really good friends with him?” Remus asked. “Not even if he becomes your best friend?”
“You’re my best friend,” Sirius said with a mock frown. “James could never replace you…never.”
“And Peter?”
Sirius snorted with laughter. “He’s just following James’s lead. They’re best friends, just like we are. Peter isn’t worried about me taking his place, and you needn’t worry about James taking yours.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Remus said with a sad smile. “I must be the only teenager in the country who hates the summer holidays.”
“You’re not,” Sirius assured him. “I’m not too fond of them myself.”
“You two aren’t still moping around, are you?” Romulus asked after he’d returned from putting away the healing potions in the bathroom that adjoined Remus’s room. “Too busy feeling sorry for yourselves to see that we’ve got company.”
“We have?” Remus asked as Sirius slipped into the shadows in case it was a teacher looking for him. He’d not encountered any teachers whilst sneaking in and out of the school, at least not since walking into Dumbledore, but that didn’t mean that Professor McGonagall or the other professors wouldn’t search for him.
“It’s Firenze,” Romulus said as he went to open the door for the young centaur.
“Trouble,” Firenze gasped as he skidded into the kitchen, his hooves not accustomed to the smooth, shiny surface. “The Ministry…”
“What’s happened?” Romulus asked even as he urged Remus to fetch their bags from the hallway. Sirius felt a twinge at the idea that Romulus hadn’t entirely unpacked, and that maybe despite his words, he hadn’t entirely trusted Sirius not to betray them.
“Magorian,” Firenze panted. “He’s challenged my father to the leadership.”
“I’m so sorry,” Romulus said as he placed as consoling hand on Firenze’s shoulder. “But what does this have to do with the Ministry? With us?”
“Ebony slipped away from the herd Father sent her to,” Firenze explained once he’d got his breath back. “She’s been in talks with the Ministry to see about getting our lands expanded. She’s been trading in Magorian’s name and he told her to…she wouldn’t have done it otherwise…they’re at the camp now. Father sent me to warn you. You’ve got to get out of here.”
“Can’t your father stop them?” Remus asked. “He’s in charge, not Magorian, isn’t he?”
“He c-can’t win against Magorian,” Firenze stammered. “Challenges for leaderships are f-fought to the d-death. He c-can’t w-win. He…”
“You should return to the herd,” Romulus advised. “You are rightful heir to the leadership.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Firenze muttered. “Not when a challenge has been initiated. Father’s sent me away until the dust has settled, I’m going to hide out in the forest for a while.”
“Would you take Remus with you?” Romulus asked quietly. “He’s still weak from the full moon. Can you take him into the forest? Just for a day or two? I’ll throw the Ministry off the trail.”
“No!” Remus shouted. “You can’t!”
“Come on Remus,” Firenze said, as though he hadn’t heard his protests. He reached out his hand and with Romulus’s assistance he eased Remus onto his back.
“I’ll find you when the Ministry is gone,” Romulus promised. “Do you have your mirror?”
Sirius stood silently as Remus nodded and a moment later the centaur disappeared back out of the door with his friend on his back.
“I don’t understand,” he said quietly. “What’s happened?”
“Ebony and Magorian have traded the knowledge of our whereabouts with the Ministry,” Romulus explained. “I need you to promise me something. Promise you’ll look after Remus while I’m away.”
“Away? But you told him you’d find him in a day or two?”
“The Ministry knows where we are. They aren’t going to stop hunting him; they aren’t going to stop hunting either of us. I can lead them off his trail by apparating out of here.”
“But you don’t have a licence, you’ll be caught right away!”
“I’m going to apparate all over the place and lead them on a merry dance all over the country. They won’t know that Remus is still here.”
“It’s too risky. Remus wouldn’t want you to be caught.”
“This is my choice. I’m telling you what I’m planning so that you’re warned in advance in case I can’t give them the slip.”
“Dumbledore said that it would be worse for you than Remus if you got caught.”
“It depends on whether you consider a dangerous creatures camp worse than the dementors of Azkaban. I told you once that I’d do anything for my brother. I still mean that. I’d even face a life in Azkaban for him, as long as I know he’s safe. Now, promise me you’ll take care of him.”
“But can’t you stay and fight the Ministry?” Sirius pleaded.
“I’m always fighting, Sirius,” Romulus replied quietly. “This is just another battle I’ve got to face. Now, promise me.”
“But the summer holidays start next week, I won’t be here.”
“Promise me, please!”
“I promise.”
“Good. Now get back to the school quickly. You don’t want to be here when the Ministry arrives.”
Sirius wanted to try to talk Romulus out of his plan, but he could tell that anything he said would be futile. Instead, he did as he was told and hurried to the Hog’s Head and the tunnel it concealed.
Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
We Will Fight ‘Til the End (PG)
“Delivering this stray,” said Aberforth by way of greeting when Romulus opened the door.
“Sirius!” Remus called from the kitchen. “I didn’t think you’d come until tomorrow.”
“That makes two of us,” Aberforth muttered as he delivered Sirius into the house and took his leave.
“You’d better come through here,” Romulus said as he pointed Sirius towards the kitchen. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight either.”
“I wanted to be here,” Sirius explained nervously. He hoped that he wasn’t going to be shown the door because of his unexpected arrival.
“But there’s nothing you can do until morning,” Remus pointed out. “Seems a bit silly to be here all night.”
“I wanted to be here,” Sirius repeated.
“Well, there’s no point in my sending you back,” said Romulus with a shrug. “Remus, you should be heading downstairs soon.”
“The moon doesn’t rise for another ten minutes,” Remus argued. “Can’t I talk to Sirius for a few minutes?”
“I’ll come down with you,” Sirius offered. “We can talk for as long as possible that way.”
“No!” Remus shook his head wildly. “You can’t!”
Sirius laughed quietly. “I didn’t mean on your side of the barrier,” he explained, frowning when he realised that his words hadn’t changed Remus’s mind and he was still shaking his head.
“No,” Remus whispered. “You can’t come down there. Rom, make him stay up here!”
“Why do you want to go down there, Sirius?” Romulus asked instead.
“I…” Sirius faltered as he tried to find the words to explain. “I think I need to be down there. I know I saw Moony last month, but I didn’t see the transformation. I think I have to see it, just once…I need to see it. I can’t explain why…”
“It doesn’t seem real, not until you’ve seen it for yourself,” Romulus stated, firmly but quietly. Sirius nodded in agreement.
“But I don’t want you to see it,” Remus muttered.
“I…” Sirius hesitated again. “Please…I swear I won’t be afraid, I won’t hate you…I just need to be there, to see for myself…just this once.”
Remus looked like he was about to argue again, but after several long minutes of contemplation he finally nodded reluctantly and opened the door to the basement.
Sirius followed him down into the darkness. Romulus followed behind them providing light from his wand. “I’ll just light the lamps for you,” he said. Once the room was fully lit, he made his way back up the stairs.
“Rom doesn’t stay down here at night,” Remus explained. Sirius frowned slightly at the comment, recalling how Romulus had been in the basement on the previous full moon. He’d not acted as though that was the first time he’d done such a thing.
Remus didn’t notice his expression though; he was too busy toeing off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Sirius asked.
“Getting undressed,” Remus replied, as though this should be extremely obvious. “You going to turn round?”
“Um, yeah, sorry,” Sirius mumbled as he turned his back to give his friend the privacy he wanted.
“If I leave it too late I end up with a load of sewing to do,” Remus explained. “Like last month. Moony’s kind of destructive and he attacks anything he can get his paws on. Okay, you can look now.”
Sirius turned to see that Remus had now stepped into the part of the room that would be on the other side of the barrier when it appeared. His clothes were in a not particularly neat pile on top of the chest of drawers and he was wrapped up in a ragged looking blanket.
“What’s it like?” Sirius asked, taking a step closer to where Remus was now sitting, leaning against the stone wall. “The change, I mean? Does it hurt?”
“Yeah, it hurts,” Remus whispered. “Not at first, at first it’s just like an itching all over my body as the fur bursts out of my skin. Then everything starts to change and…” His voice trailed off and Sirius could see that he was shivering. He wondered whether it was from the cold or from nerves.
“I can go back upstairs if you want me to,” he offered quietly.
“It’s okay.” Remus sighed. “You can stay.”
Sirius sat down on the floor and wondered what to say in order to pass the last few minutes before the full moon rose.
“Thanks for coming tonight,” Remus offered just before the magical barrier flickered to life with a red glow before it became invisible.
“You’re welcome,” Sirius replied even as Remus began scratching at his skin. “It’s started, hasn’t it?”
Remus nodded as he continued to scratch more and more frantically. “The moon causes the transformation, but as long as the sun’s in the sky, it holds it back.”
Sirius listened as Remus explained and he didn’t fail to notice the other boy’s voice becoming more hoarse and raspier with each word he uttered.
Sirius watched as Remus scratched at his left arm with his right hand. He didn’t notice the wolf claws protruding from the human fingers until after he’d seen the long scratches they’d left.
“Remus, stop scratching!” he ordered.
“Can’t help it,” Remus rasped just before he turned over onto all fours, the wolf claws seeking a grip on the stone floor.
The fur was sprouting all over Remus’s body and Sirius could hear popping sounds as bones were forced out of their sockets and into new positions - some growing longer, some growing shorter. Remus was whimpering as though he was trying not to cry out in pain and Sirius could see the sheen of tears in his brown eyes.
Remus’s face was the last thing to change and Sirius knew that his friend was beyond speech by this point.
Sirius saw the nostrils widening and flinched when a stream of blood began to pour from them. The blood flow was short-lived however and Sirius watched as Remus’s nose became elongated and changed into the snout of a wolf. Remus’s jaw stretched with the snout and Sirius saw a flash of long and deadly teeth.
Most disconcerting were Remus’s eyes, which were still the same brown eyes of his friend, only now they were in the face of the wolf. Sirius wondered if he’d imagined the golden orbs that had stared at him the previous month.
Then the wolf tossed back his head and let loose a piercing howl. Sirius’s hands flew to his ears and only when the sound had stopped did he bring them down again.
He looked at the wolf, Moony, and saw that the last vestige of Remus was gone…the brown eyes were golden, just as they’d been on the night of the last full moon.
Sirius sat down on one of the lower stairs and wondered what to do now. A few minutes later Romulus came back down the stairs and sat down a few stairs above him.
“Remus doesn’t know you come down here at night, does he?” Sirius asked quietly.
“I think he suspects, but he doesn’t know for sure,” Romulus confirmed quietly. “It calms Moony down to have someone down here with him.”
“Why doesn’t he try to attack you?” Sirius asked. “I’ve been reading up on werewolves and they attack humans whenever they can.”
“That’s right. But the barrier has spells on it to prevent the wolf smelling humans on the other side.”
“It does?”
“On the other side of the barrier the wolf can smell the forest, trees, flowers, other animals…it overpowers the scent of humans. As long as Moony can’t smell us, he won’t attack the barrier.”
“Do all werewolves have one of these?” Sirius asked, gesturing vaguely towards the barrier and the spells.
“Those with a conscience have some form of cage for tonight, but this one I built myself. Took nearly a year to get all the spells up. Still can’t deaden the sounds he makes though. Spells to keep the sounds in seem to react badly with the spell for the forest smells…I can’t figure out why…but I’d rather have him making a noise than killing himself by attacking the barrier all night while trying to get to the villagers.”
“Last month…” Sirius began. “Erm…”
“What about it?”
“I heard you talking to Remus when he was…” Sirius gestured towards the pacing wolf. “Does he understand you?”
“Remus doesn’t remember anything I say the next morning,” Romulus replied. “But it helps keep Moony calm. Sometimes I just chat to him about general stuff. Sometimes I read to him. I tried reading text books to him to see if it helped some of the stuff sink in, but no such luck.”
Sirius nodded quietly and smiled at the weak joke.
“I think that sometimes it’s as much for me as for Moony,” Romulus continued with a small sigh.
“Why don’t you tell Remus you come down here?”
“He doesn’t like anyone seeing him in his wolf form. But on the nights I have to work during the full moon he’s always more beaten up than on those where I can sit with him.”
“So, if someone’s down here with him, he’ll not hurt himself?” Sirius asked.
“Not always.” Romulus shook his head sadly. “If Remus is troubled, if something’s bothering him…it’s like the wolf seems to sense it as well.”
“So, if Remus is upset, it makes it worse?”
“That’s about it,” Romulus agreed. “He’s had a few really rough ones the last six months from worrying about you.”
“Me?”
“Worrying about lying to you, worrying about losing your friendship…”
“Oh.” Sirius shifted slightly on the stair and he felt another twinge of guilt at how he’d reacted in his first meeting with Remus after the last full moon.
“Don’t worry about it,” Romulus advised. “Tonight’s not going to be so bad…look…” He pointed towards the wolf that was still pacing the floor, but thankfully not attacking the barrier or himself.
“He cut his arm up with the claws,” Sirius commented after a few minutes of silently watching the wolf.
“How bad?”
“I’m not sure.”
Romulus stood up and jumped over Sirius’s outstretched legs, leaning towards the barrier, his lit wand illuminating the floor. “I can’t see much blood on the floor,” he said after a few moments. “Just a patch over there.”
“That was from his nose,” Sirius explained.
“Good, that always happens. Means his arm can’t be too bad, at least he’s not hit a major artery this time.”
“You mean he has before?”
“Twice now,” Romulus confirmed as he sat back down on the stairs. “Once during the first transformation after I brought him here, and then again the summer before last.”
“When he didn’t get his Hogwarts letter?” Sirius guessed.
“Yeah. He took it pretty badly.”
Sirius didn’t know what to say to that. The ever-present guilt at being able to attend the school, that Remus couldn’t, had rendered him speechless.
“Don’t feel guilty about being able to go there,” said Romulus, causing Sirius to wonder if he’d spoken his thoughts out loud. “It doesn’t help, believe me!”
Sirius nodded silently and approached the barrier once more. “Moony?” he questioned. “Do you mind me being here?”
The wolf looked back at him, baring his teeth and snarling slightly.
“He always does that if you get to close,” Romulus commented. Sirius stepped back a few paces and wondered how Romulus had managed to make it through so many full moons without going mad.
“I’ve not told the Ministry or anyone about you and Remus,” Sirius said. He knew he’d said it before, but for some reason he felt that he should repeat it again now.
“I know,” Romulus smiled. “I’m not worried about you betraying us any more.”
“You’re not?”
“Maybe just a little bit, but not enough to pack up and leave the country.”
“So, you’re moving back in here?”
“I think it’d take the entire centaur herd to prise Remus out of the house now that we’re back here,” Romulus replied with a smile.
Sirius smiled back; his fear that Remus would be taken away was subsiding for the first time in a month.
-o-xXx-o-
Remus woke the next morning, bruised as always but with relatively few cuts. The sun was already up and the barrier gone, so he walked over to retrieve his clothes from the chest of drawers. As he pulled on his jeans he wondered where Sirius was. He hoped that Moony hadn’t scared off his friend at some point during the night.
“Remus?” Romulus called from the top of the stairs. “You okay down there?”
“Yeah, I’m just coming,” Remus yelled back. “Is Sirius still here?”
“He’s eating breakfast,” Romulus shouted. “And if you don’t get a move on, there’ll be none left for you.”
Remus grinned and quickened his pace.
Sirius was sitting at the table, tucking into a plate of scrambled eggs. The moment Remus appeared he put down his fork and grinned. “How’s your arm?” he asked.
Remus looked at the arm in question. The sleeve of his shirt was rolled up to keep the blood off of it but it had clearly stopped bleeding some time ago.
“Let me see,” Romulus briskly ordered. “Hmm, it’s just shallow.” He turned to Sirius. “Have you been taught charms for wound cleansing yet?”
“I’ve been taught the Tersus charm,” Sirius confirmed. “At least I’ve been told the incantation. Madam Pomfrey said the wand movement depended on the wound itself.”
Romulus nodded in agreement. “And what about Profundus Tersus?” he asked.
Sirius shook his head in confusion.
“Okay,” announced Romulus, sounding more like one of the Professors than Sirius had ever heard him. “The Tersus charm cleans open wounds like this one. The wand movement should be such that it will pass over the length of the wound. Like this.” Pulling out his wand, Romulus cast the charm, drawing out the “S” in the incantation so that it lasted as long as the wand was passing over the wound.
“Does it hurt?” Sirius asked Remus who shook his head in reply.
“Now that one is only useful if the wound is open,” Romulus continued. “Sometimes a wound might be bleeding badly and needs sealing right away. In those cases the Profundus Tersus is used because it cleans deeper under the skin.”
“And that one does hurt!” Remus interrupted with a grimace.
Romulus nodded sadly before turning back to Sirius. “How about you try the next one?”
Sirius nodded and moved round to the other side of the table. “Do you have any more cuts?” he asked Remus as he looked him over.
“One on my leg,” Remus said as he pointed to his thigh.
“Then, why the heck did you put your jeans back on?” Romulus asked with impatience. “It only means more washing. Really, Remus!”
Remus muttered something under his breath as he removed his jeans and tossed them at his brother.
“Okay, Sirius…” Romulus said after he’d cast a cursory glance at the cut on Remus’s leg.
Sirius nodded and pointed his wand at the end of the wound. Remus meanwhile was barely taking notice of what he was doing and was instead reaching for a slice of bacon.
“You might want to take a little more notice,” Romulus advised his brother. “Especially since you’ve yet to get the hang of this particular charm in all the months I’ve been trying to drum it into your head.”
“But you know I’m always hungry after the full moon,” Remus replied with a mouthful of bacon.
“And every other morning,” Romulus muttered affectionately.
“I’m just no good at charms,” Remus sighed.
“You did okay with my wand,” Sirius pointed out once he’d finished cleaning the cut.
“Very good,” Romulus commented as he looked at the cut. “It looks like this one will need sealing as well. Have you been told how?”
Sirius shook his head.
“Okay, let me show you,” Romulus said as he batted Remus’s hand away from the last of the bacon in order to access his leg.
Once the cut was sealed, and Remus had confirmed he didn’t have any more scratches that needed tending, the three of them settled back down at the table.
“Sometimes we need to use the potions as well,” Romulus commented. “It looks like last night was a good one though so I’ll have to show you them another time.
Sirius nodded as he turned back to the eggs that had now gone cold.
“Sirius, what’s your wand’s core?” Romulus asked as he poured the teas.
“Dragon heartstring,” Sirius said as he twirled said wand in his hand.
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” Remus asked curiously.
“Dad’s wand was a dragon heartstring,” Romulus explained. “Mum’s was a unicorn hair, same as mine.”
“So that might be why I get on better with Sirius’s wand than yours?” Remus asked.
“Could be,” Romulus replied. “Now eat up, Sirius. I’ll walk you back to the Hog’s Head and see you into the tunnel to the school.”
-o-xXx-o-
Sirius climbed out of the tunnel and into the corridor near the kitchens. He wasn’t too surprised to see the familiar form of the headmaster just a few paces away from him.
“Ah, Mr Black.” Dumbledore smiled at him. “I’d just come down to check on the house elves. Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Yes, Professor,” Sirius replied with a barely concealed sigh at being caught.
“Your friends were wondering where you were when you missed breakfast,” Dumbledore commented as he gestured for Sirius to follow him down the corridor. “You’re going to be late for Transfiguration if you don’t hurry.”
“Aren’t you going to give me a detention for sneaking out again?” Sirius asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Dumbledore chuckled. “I imagine you’ll have accumulated more than enough detentions by the end of your seventh year without my adding to them this morning. But I must ask that you be more careful about how frequently you leave the school grounds.”
“I was only going to go on the nights of the full moon.”
“Precisely.” Dumbledore nodded as though Sirius had hit the nail on the head. “Your friends in Gryffindor are clever enough to notice that. They may begin to suspect something if you aren’t more careful.”
“Are you suggesting I go visit Remus on other nights too?” Sirius asked in surprise.
“I’m not giving you permission to sneak out,” Dumbledore clarified. “You do understand that?”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Very good, very good. Now you’d better hurry to Transfiguration before Professor McGonagall gives you a detention.”
Sirius nodded and made his way towards the Transfiguration classroom, wondering, not for the first time, exactly what it was that Professor Dumbledore wanted him to do.
-o-xXx-o-
If Sirius had thought it was difficult sneaking out for the April full moon, it was nothing compared to the May one.
“Where you going?” James’s voice called out to him just as he made it to the dormitory door.
“The kitchens,” Sirius lied. He’d worry about more questions from the boy when he returned.
“You’re lying,” James accused. “I thought we were friends now. Friends don’t lie to each other. This is the second time you’ve snuck out this month.”
“Fine, I’m not going to the kitchens,” Sirius admitted as he pulled open the door.
“Then where are you going? To see Remus?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“If you keep sneaking out like this, you’ll be expelled.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“I’m coming with you,” James said as he crawled out of bed and fumbled for his glasses.
“You can’t,” Sirius quickly replied. “It’ll only get us both in trouble.”
“Friends get in trouble together,” James pointed out as he pulled his trousers on over his pyjama bottoms.
“I can’t let you do this,” Sirius said as he pulled his wand out.
“’Course you can,” James said. His back was turned to Sirius and he rummaged under his bed for his shirt.
Sirius shook his head in frustration. Two months ago and James wouldn’t have cared if he were sneaking out of the school every night of the week. Now they were - for want of a better word - friends, it was far more difficult to slip away.
James was unnaturally curious and for some reason he was very curious about Remus. In his more despondent moments, Sirius even wondered if James was only pretending to be friends with him in order to find out what he could about the other boy.
Sirius raised his wand and muttered a quick spell that sent James falling face first onto his bed. He’d be furious in the morning, but Remus’s secret would be safe. Remus was his friend; of that he had no doubt. He’d even put up with being enemies with James and Peter again, as long as it meant that Remus and his secret was safe.
-o-xXx-o-
“Last full moon of the term,” Sirius commented quietly as he handed the newly patched up Remus his shirt. “Wish I could be here during the summer.”
“Me too,” Remus replied quietly. “You should be heading back to school.”
“I guess. James is getting really suspicious about where I go and how come I’ve not been expelled. Though at least I didn’t have to stun him this month. He really hates it when I do that. Last time he didn’t speak to me for three days.”
“You won’t tell him about me, will you?”
Sirius looked at Remus in shock. “Of course not. I’d never tell anyone about you.”
“Not even if you become really good friends with him?” Remus asked. “Not even if he becomes your best friend?”
“You’re my best friend,” Sirius said with a mock frown. “James could never replace you…never.”
“And Peter?”
Sirius snorted with laughter. “He’s just following James’s lead. They’re best friends, just like we are. Peter isn’t worried about me taking his place, and you needn’t worry about James taking yours.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Remus said with a sad smile. “I must be the only teenager in the country who hates the summer holidays.”
“You’re not,” Sirius assured him. “I’m not too fond of them myself.”
“You two aren’t still moping around, are you?” Romulus asked after he’d returned from putting away the healing potions in the bathroom that adjoined Remus’s room. “Too busy feeling sorry for yourselves to see that we’ve got company.”
“We have?” Remus asked as Sirius slipped into the shadows in case it was a teacher looking for him. He’d not encountered any teachers whilst sneaking in and out of the school, at least not since walking into Dumbledore, but that didn’t mean that Professor McGonagall or the other professors wouldn’t search for him.
“It’s Firenze,” Romulus said as he went to open the door for the young centaur.
“Trouble,” Firenze gasped as he skidded into the kitchen, his hooves not accustomed to the smooth, shiny surface. “The Ministry…”
“What’s happened?” Romulus asked even as he urged Remus to fetch their bags from the hallway. Sirius felt a twinge at the idea that Romulus hadn’t entirely unpacked, and that maybe despite his words, he hadn’t entirely trusted Sirius not to betray them.
“Magorian,” Firenze panted. “He’s challenged my father to the leadership.”
“I’m so sorry,” Romulus said as he placed as consoling hand on Firenze’s shoulder. “But what does this have to do with the Ministry? With us?”
“Ebony slipped away from the herd Father sent her to,” Firenze explained once he’d got his breath back. “She’s been in talks with the Ministry to see about getting our lands expanded. She’s been trading in Magorian’s name and he told her to…she wouldn’t have done it otherwise…they’re at the camp now. Father sent me to warn you. You’ve got to get out of here.”
“Can’t your father stop them?” Remus asked. “He’s in charge, not Magorian, isn’t he?”
“He c-can’t win against Magorian,” Firenze stammered. “Challenges for leaderships are f-fought to the d-death. He c-can’t w-win. He…”
“You should return to the herd,” Romulus advised. “You are rightful heir to the leadership.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Firenze muttered. “Not when a challenge has been initiated. Father’s sent me away until the dust has settled, I’m going to hide out in the forest for a while.”
“Would you take Remus with you?” Romulus asked quietly. “He’s still weak from the full moon. Can you take him into the forest? Just for a day or two? I’ll throw the Ministry off the trail.”
“No!” Remus shouted. “You can’t!”
“Come on Remus,” Firenze said, as though he hadn’t heard his protests. He reached out his hand and with Romulus’s assistance he eased Remus onto his back.
“I’ll find you when the Ministry is gone,” Romulus promised. “Do you have your mirror?”
Sirius stood silently as Remus nodded and a moment later the centaur disappeared back out of the door with his friend on his back.
“I don’t understand,” he said quietly. “What’s happened?”
“Ebony and Magorian have traded the knowledge of our whereabouts with the Ministry,” Romulus explained. “I need you to promise me something. Promise you’ll look after Remus while I’m away.”
“Away? But you told him you’d find him in a day or two?”
“The Ministry knows where we are. They aren’t going to stop hunting him; they aren’t going to stop hunting either of us. I can lead them off his trail by apparating out of here.”
“But you don’t have a licence, you’ll be caught right away!”
“I’m going to apparate all over the place and lead them on a merry dance all over the country. They won’t know that Remus is still here.”
“It’s too risky. Remus wouldn’t want you to be caught.”
“This is my choice. I’m telling you what I’m planning so that you’re warned in advance in case I can’t give them the slip.”
“Dumbledore said that it would be worse for you than Remus if you got caught.”
“It depends on whether you consider a dangerous creatures camp worse than the dementors of Azkaban. I told you once that I’d do anything for my brother. I still mean that. I’d even face a life in Azkaban for him, as long as I know he’s safe. Now, promise me you’ll take care of him.”
“But can’t you stay and fight the Ministry?” Sirius pleaded.
“I’m always fighting, Sirius,” Romulus replied quietly. “This is just another battle I’ve got to face. Now, promise me.”
“But the summer holidays start next week, I won’t be here.”
“Promise me, please!”
“I promise.”
“Good. Now get back to the school quickly. You don’t want to be here when the Ministry arrives.”
Sirius wanted to try to talk Romulus out of his plan, but he could tell that anything he said would be futile. Instead, he did as he was told and hurried to the Hog’s Head and the tunnel it concealed.
Chapter 13