The Last Joke   von <span style='color: gray;'>abgemeldet</span>
                               (Sirius x Remus)
================================================================================
                     Kapitel 8: Servants of Lord Voldemort
                     -------------------------------------


hello there! i'm here again with a new chapter. this time i let myself to be
carried away and here's the result. the chapter is longer again and, yes,
there's a little more action. and now i proved again how sadistic i can be...
poor bloke!


Chapter Eight: Servants of Lord Voldemort

“Remus, my dear lad, bring me the file MC1826D4, please. You know where to
find it, don’t you?”
Remus smiled at the old, short wizard, the head archivist in the vast archive of
the Ministry of Magic. “Of course! Magical Creatures Section, year 1826, the
Irish Dragon Affair,” he said in one breath.
“Precisely!” said the old archivist, delighted. “You’re the best helper
I’ve ever had.”
Remus blushed slightly.
“Really,” the old wizard went on. “You were able to learn the order of the
whole archive in a very short time. You are a very smart boy.”
Remus blushed even more. 
“I go and bring the file,” he said and quickly disappeared among rows of
high bookcases packed with records about all the affairs, trials, cases and
other public activities since the year 1121 when the archive of the monastery in
the royal town of New Camelot had been established. 
After James, Lily and Sirius had passed their tests for Auror study Remus and
Peter got work in the archive of the Ministry of Magic. Remus worked hard to
familiarize himself with as many files as he could. When the old archivist had
noticed his effort, he gave him a special permission to take the files home,
even though it wasn’t officially allowed.
 Remus had been spending evenings reading the documents, trying to remember as
much as he could, until Sirius made an end to his night studies for
understandable reasons. Remus didn’t want to give up reading, so he had to
find the way to share his free time between Sirius and his new hobby. Mostly, he
would read when Sirius was busy with practicing new spells he had been taught in
the Auror course. And when he managed to perform the spells without any mistake,
he was eager to teach Remus, who enjoyed Sirius’s lessons as much as he
enjoyed reading.
Remus would never have thought his life could have become so happy. He had work
he liked, he had the person who meant very much to him by his side and he had
great friends, who didn’t mind his other self. He liked when he came to work
where he met clumsy Peter, who used to get lost in a vast labyrinth of bookcases
several times a day. He didn’t mind helping him with every task Peter had got,
although it meant his own work became doubled. He loved the moments when they
closed the archive and he could hurry home to spend a nice evening with Sirius.
Months were going by and the only thing that could disturb their peaceful life
were bad news wherever they went. As Remus noticed, records from various trials
were coming to the archive too often. He read them and he could say there was
something fishy about all of the cases. He told Sirius about it and Sirius said
the Aurors were much busier lately than ever before.
Remus was walking along the rows of high bookcases in Magical Creatures Section,
looking for the file he had been asked for. At last, he spotted it on the
highest shelf. 
“Accio!” 
The file jumped elegantly right into his hand.
A loud thud echoed from behind a corner. He ran there to find out what had
happened. He found Peter buried under a huge pile of various kinds of files. 
“Are you OK?” he asked as he was helping him on his feet.
“Yes, I was just carrying files to Dark Arts Section when I ran into this
stupid bookcase,” answered Peter, annoyed. “Could you help me to tidy them
away, please? ”
Remus only shrugged helplessly.
“Here, take it to Mr. Libris,” he handed the file he was holding to Peter.
“I’ll take care of this mess.”
“Thank you very much,” said Peter with relief and drifted away.
Remus sighed. He had to deal with similar situations every day. Nevertheless, he
didn’t complain. He swept his wand lazily and everything was in the right
place.
Peter meanwhile brought the file to the archivist, who wrote down its call
number into his notebook and then handed it to a wizard standing by his desk.
“Here you are, Mr. Bones. The Irish Dragon Affair, year 1826.”  
“Thank you,” said the wizard and went to the one of the tables in a corner
for readers.
Peter moved to a pile of files on the floor in order to sort them.
“You mixed the SG files with DA,” said Remus’s voice from behind his back.
“Dark Arts are on the other side. Sports and Games are together with Misused
Magic and Muggle Matters.”
“Muggle Matters! What does it have to do with Sports and Games!?” cried
Peter, annoyed. He had big difficulties to remember the order of the vast
archive. 
Remus gave him some more advice how to sort the files and disappeared among the
rows of bookcases again, for he had been sent for another document. 
Two wizards who had come to the archive a while ago and now they were waiting
for the file Remus had gone for stood not far from the place where Peter was
sorting the files, so he could hear what they were talking about.
“Those filthy creatures! You can never trust a werewolf, they are
treacherous,” said one of the wizards.
“You are right, Rookwood,” said the other one. “They may look like humans,
but in fact they are all animals.”
“Worse than animals,” agreed Rookwood with his companion.
Peter stared at them in surprise. They couldn’t be serious, those two!
The man called Rookwood noticed his look. 
“What is it, boy?” he asked. “Do you want something?”
“I’m sorry,” Peter apologized. “I just can’t agree with you. Not all
of the werewolves are as bad as you think.”
Both wizards stared at him in amazement. 
“What do you know about them, boy? Have you ever seen a werewolf? Just in a
book, I suppose,” said Rookwood in an insulting tone.
Peter frowned. “One of my best friends is a werewolf. And he’s one of the
kindest persons I’ve ever met.”
The two wizards looked at each other and roared with laughter.
“Did you hear him, Travers?” laughed Rookwood. “Listen, boy,” he turned
to Peter. “There is nothing like a kind werewolf in this world. They are a
band of wicked existences. That friend of yours must be a really cunning guy, or
you are such a fool to trust him.”
“I am not!” snapped Peter angrily. “If he was a wicked existence as you
say, Dumbledore would never have allowed him to study at Hogwarts and become a
qualified wizard.” 
“Qualified wizard?” repeated Travers, surprised.
“A werewolf with a wand?” asked Rookwood incredulously.
“Yes,” said Peter with rising anger that they didn’t want to believe his
words. “He’s over there. Remus Lupin’s his name.” He pointed at Remus,
who had just returned from the maze and now used his wand to make one of the
piles of sorted files to take off to the air and to fly the direction he
navigated it.
“He’s a werewolf, then?” asked Rookwood now seriously. 
“As I say,” answered Peter firmly. 
“Who did it to him?”
“Fenrir Greyback.”
“Greyback?”
Rookwood and Travers exchanged their looks once again, but this time they were
the looks of curiosity.
“Are you sure about it?” asked Travers doubtfully.
In that very moment Mr. Libris called Peter to send him for another file.
“I am,” answered Peter shortly and set off for the maze. 
“What do you think?” Travers asked Rookwood, whispering. 
“We should find out the truth. If the boy didn’t lie, Greyback could gain a
valuable ally. 
“If we were the first, we could gain a valuable ally. We need only to persuade
him. That brat’s more worthy than that lousy Greyback.”
“What if he doesn’t want to be persuaded?”
“It would be his fatal mistake, then.”

The day was going by slowly. As the evening was coming nearer, fewer people were
visiting the archive.
Peter sat down at one of the tables, exhausted, while Remus was standing by the
entrance to the labyrinth, reading the file he was supposed to put into the
shelf. Mr. Libris, the archivist, was controlling his notes once again and
muttering something about unreliability of the court reporters who hadn’t
handed in their records from that day’s trials yet.
“We’re lucky, it’s still open!” A group of three young people ran in,
two boys and a girl. The old archivist gave them a frowned look to let them know
he disapproved of their noisy arrival. They all made apologetic faces and with
broad smiles they went quietly to the table Peter was sitting at.
Remus put the file he had been reading back into the shelf and with the same
broad smile he joined the group. 
“Hello, mates! We need your help,” said James, grinning.
“What help?” Peter asked cautiously. He didn’t feel like getting lost in
the maze again.
“We have to find out who Tobold the Mad was and what kind of spell he used to
defeat an unknown creature. And what that creature was, of course,” explained
Lily.
“Never heard ‘bout him,” said Peter wearily. 
“Nor we did, that’s why we’re here,” said Sirius, disappointed. 
“I have,” said Remus, smiling. “We have a record about him here. If you
wait a little, I’ll bring it.”
James grinned. “Thanks, Moony, we knew we could rely on you.”
“You surely need a hand. I go with you,” said Sirius quickly.
Remus glanced at the archivist, who didn’t pay any attention to them. “All
right, let’s go.”
Both of them set off for the labyrinth. Sirius looked over his shoulder to catch
James’s grin. Lily smacked his head, but she, too, was smiling. Just Peter was
watching them with a serious expression. 
“The document is in Magical Creatures Section. I don’t know the year, but it
should be the fifteenth century,” said Remus as they were walking along the
endless rows of bookcases full of various documents.
“You’re pretty familiar with this maze,” said Sirius, amazed. “I’d get
lost in a second.”
Remus smiled, but didn’t reply. He led Sirius deeper into the vast labyrinth.
“Here it is,” he said after a while. He reached for a file in one of lower
shelves. “Year 1484, C25.”
“How can you know such a complicated order?” asked Sirius, wondering. 
“It isn’t so complicated,” Remus turned back to him. “The only
complicated thing about all of this is that too many documents are collected
here. Knowing the contents of the whole archive is a matter of a lifetime.”
“And not just one, as I can see. You can’t spend your whole life reading,
can you? You have to live as well,” said Sirius and lustful sparkles flashed
in his eyes. He made Remus to lean against the bookcase behind his back, giving
him a deep, passionate kiss. His hand wandered down Remus’s arm to the file he
was holding and when it met its target, it got hold of it. 
“Let’s see who that Mad guy was,” said Sirius after he had finally let go
of Remus and he opened the file. “Oh! Everything’s in ancient English!” he
cried, disappointed. 
“Can’t you read ancient English?” asked Remus teasingly. 
“You can?”
Remus laughed cheerfully. “No, of course not!”
“So?” Sirius was watching him suspiciously. 
Remus took the file from his hand and turned several pages. “Can you read it
now?” he asked, grinning.
Sirius looked at the text. “A translation! I could’ve known you weren’t so
smart to read those scribbles.”
Remus chuckled.
“You like making fun of me, don’t you?” asked Sirius, looking insulted.
“Yes, I do,” said Remus and gave him a making up kiss. 
“When do you finish work?” asked Sirius after a while.
“In an hour, maybe two, I don’ know. I should be at home at six in any
case.” 
“Well. I’ll cook something delicious while I’ll be waiting for you,”
said Sirius with a smirk.
“Don’t dare!” cried Remus, horror in his eyes. “Last time you tried to
cook we weren’t able to air the house for more than two weeks!”
“But it wasn’t so horrible. At least, we didn’t suffer from a lack of the
fresh air.”
“It was in January. There were two degrees in the bedroom,” retorted Remus.

“All right then. I’ll buy something instead,” Sirius sighed with pretended
disappointment.
“Great idea!” said Remus, smiling again. He knew Sirius was just making fun
of him as well.
One more time their lips had met in a sweet kiss before they set off for their
way out from the maze.
“Wait a sec,” Remus said when Sirius put the file on the table their three
friends were sitting around. He walked away to the desk where Mr. Libris was
controlling his notes.
“How was it there?” asked James with a teasing grin.
“Do you really want to know?” asked Sirius with the same expression.
“Rather not.”
“Everything’s all right,” said Remus when he returned. “Padfoot, you can
take the file with you home. I have to bring it back here tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Moony,” said James and stood up. “You spared us a lot of
time.”
“You’re welcome,” Remus smiled. “And now out, all of you! We have still
too much work to do here,” he hurried the group out from the archive.
James, Lily and Sirius left obediently.  

“What can I do for you, Edgar?” Dumbledore asked the wizard standing in
front of his table in the headmaster’s office.
“I accidentally witnessed a very interesting conversation an hour ago...”
answered Edgar Bones.
“What about?”
“About a werewolf who studied here, at Hogwarts.”
“Oh!” Dumbledore smiled. “You mean Remus Lupin! Very kind boy, very
clever, talented...” 
“Yes, I heard something about his kindness. His friend and colleague in the
Ministry archive, where they both work, was too eager to convince Rookwood and
Travers that not every werewolf had to be bad...”
By the hearing of all of that Dumbledore abruptly stood up.
“Send someone to keep an eye on the boy. He might be in a great danger!” he
said in one breath.
“I’ll send Frank Longbottom.”
“Very well. Hurry!”
Edgar ran out from the office.
Dumbledore swept his wand smartly. A silver phoenix appeared and flew out from
an opened window.

Remus put the last file into the shelf at last. Peter was already away. If he
had been there, the work would have taken Remus much more time. He said goodbye
to the old archivist, who used to stay in the archive until late night hours
(and came to work very early), and walked out to the corridor. 
“Can we have a word with you, lad?” asked a cold voice from behind his
back.
He turned around. Two men, who had visited the archive that day, were standing
there.
“Did something happen?” asked Remus cautiously. He didn’t like the looks
of theirs, how they were sizing him up.
“No, we’d just like to ask you some questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Questions about you,” said the wizard who was talking to him while the
other one was watching him quietly, playing with a wand in his hand. 
Remus reached for his own wand in the pocket of his robes. “What about me?”
he asked, frowning.
“You better leave that thing where it is,” said the wizard with the wand in
his hand and pointed it at Remus. Remus let his hand sink along his body.
“Hold on, Travers! You’ll scare our young friend,” said the first wizard
with a malicious smile. “You know, laddie, we found out something very
interesting about you and we’d like to check up the veracity,” he said in a
friendly tone.
“What kind of things?” asked Remus and made a step backwards. He didn’t
like those men; something sinister was looking from their eyes.
He didn’t need much time to realize his situation wasn’t good at all. It was
useless to turn around and run away in the long, straight corridor lit by many
torches. A well-aimed curse could have hit him any time. He felt the wand in his
pocket; he’d love to pull it out and fight if necessary, but he was very well
aware there was no chance as long as Travers had his wand in his hand. 
Remus was trapped.    
“Come with us where more privacy is and we can talk openly.”
“I’m sorry I can’t. I need to hurry back home,” he said politely, but
firmly.
The wizard talking to him laughed. “Who’s waiting for you? Parents,
girlfriend, or a young wife?”
Remus frowned even more and made another step backwards.
“Uh-uh, laddie, you’re going with us, willing or not. Travers!” The wizard
gave his companion a sign.
Everything happened in a second. Blue sparks shot out from Travers’s wand. In
the very moment Remus pulled out his own wand, but didn’t have enough time to
use it. He felt sharp pain in his chest as though a knife was cutting his lungs
into pieces. He couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t do anything. 
The wand fell out from his hand. He was staring at the both wizards in horror.
His lungs didn’t want to be filled with air no matter how hard he was trying
and it was a hell good reason to start panicking. He was going to die for sure.
The thought of Sirius waiting for him at home and looking forward to their
evening in two slipped into his mind.
“Sirius,” he wanted to whisper, but no sound came out from his mouth.
“How are you feeling, little werewolf? It hurts, doesn’t it?” asked a cold
voice. “You cannot breathe and your lungs desperately call for air. You’ve
got no choice but to go with us if you don’t want to die.”
They didn’t wait for his answer; there was no chance for Remus to say a word
anyway. They made him stand up and dragged him somewhere into the depth of the
Ministry where he had never been before. He was close to faint. Mist appeared
before his eyes, he couldn’t see anything. He felt his own feet obediently
walking the way the wizards were leading him. He couldn’t do anything; he was
too weak. All the sounds around – rustling of robes, footsteps on the hard
stone floor – everything fell silent. He expected his own heart beating, but
it was like dead as well. 
No! I don’t want to die! Sirius, help me!
Suddenly, the pain in his chest stopped. He took a deep breath and started
coughing. His stomach was about to let everybody know its contents.
“Damn! He’s going to vomit! Bellatrix will kill us if he dirty the
carpet!” he heard a nervous voice above his head. At least, he could hear
again. He felt a soft carpet under his body. The mist before his eyes was slowly
vanishing. 
He stopped coughing. He took several deep breaths. His lungs were filled with
air, giving him the knowledge he was still alive. He felt sick and dizzy. 
“Can you speak, wolf cub?” The wizard who had talked to him in the corridor
was bending over him.
“How... do you... know?” Remus asked with effort.
“It doesn’t matter,” snapped the wizard. “We’ve got a few questions.
You are Greyback’s, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“Are you from Greyback’s pack?”
“I don’t understand. What is this all about?” asked Remus and tried to
stand up. Lying on the floor wasn’t very convenient position in a company of
two dangerous madmen. But his legs betrayed him; they were like jelly, too weak
to carry him, so he stayed sitting. 
“Don’t lie to us, cub, I warn you. You’re a wizard and a werewolf in one.
You’re too precious to Greyback to let you live on your own.”
“I’ve got nothing to do with Greyback,” said Remus firmly. “The first
and the last time I saw him was when he bit me.”
The wizards exchanged their looks.
“What do you think, Rookwood?” asked Travers and gave Remus a suspicious
gaze.
Rookwood rolled up the sleeve on his left forearm. Remus could see something
like a vivid red tattoo – a skull, with a snake protruding from its mouth.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked and didn’t even wait for Remus to
answer. “This is the Dark Mark. You surely know what it means, don’t
you?”
“Yes, it means there are Death Eaters spying at the Ministry,” muttered
Remus without thinking.
That was bad, very bad. In hands of Death Eaters his chance to see the sunrise
tomorrow was very low. What did they want from him, actually?
“What do you want from me? Why did you brought me here?” he asked,
frowning.
Rookwood straightened up.
“So you are not from Greyback’s filthy band, then?”
“I’ve just told you.”
“All right, all right,” said Rookwood quickly. His voice was much friendlier
than a while ago. “Can you stand up? We can talk like equal men.”
Yes, equal men, thought Remus doubtfully. He used the chance and tried to stand
up again. This time, holding on the wall with his hand, he managed. He looked at
the two Death Eaters. He noticed Travers holding a wand in his hand –
Remus’s wand!
Rookwood noticed Remus’s alarmed stare.
“Don’t worry, boy. It’s just a precaution. You don’t trust us and we
don’t trust you. But we can change it. We offer you alliance.”
Remus looked at him, perplexed. “Excuse me?”
“You heard well. We’d like you to join our lines. Under the Dark Lord’s
command you can get fortune, fame, respect. He’ll give you anything as a
reward for your loyalty.”   
Remus was staring at him, confused. He didn’t know what to think about the
whole situation. Death Eaters wanted him to join them! How ridiculous!
“As a werewolf, you’ll be disgraced, humiliated, hurt from the whole
wizarding world. You’ll be an outsider without any right to desire. That’s
what is waiting for you out there. Join us and you’ll get whatever you
want.”
“You really want me to join you?” asked Remus incredulously. 
The situation started being too complicated. He needed to be extremely careful.
One wrong word could cost him his life.
“Yes, join us. Become one of the Dark Lord’s servants. You’re a wizard.
You can get rid of that filthy, treacherous Greyback and become the leader of
the werewolf community instead of him. I’m sure they will follow you.”
Remus’s brain was working at full speed. If he made an impression he agreed,
perhaps he would get his wand back. 
“What about full moons? May I hunt freely?”
Rookwood laughed. “Indeed! So you agree?”
“I need some time to think about it,” said Remus evasively.
“There’s nothing to think about. Take it or die,” said Travers, who had
been silent for the whole time Rookwood had been talking to Remus, and pointed
Remus’s wand at its owner. 
“Slowly, Travers!” Rookwood stopped him. 
He turned back to Remus.
“Travers is right. We can’t afford to wait. We want your answer right
away.”
“It is not so simple,” said Remus. He was trying to play for time. “Where
are we, by the way?” He looked around the spacious room. There was a long
mahogany table in the midst, expensive tapestries on the stone walls and a
treasurable carpet on the floor. The light of many torches was giving the place
solemn atmosphere. Remus was looking for a door. He spotted it in a distant end
of the room.
Suddenly, the door opened and a woman with long black hair walked in. Her
movements were so graceful as though of a queen. There was no doubt about her
aristocratic lineage. The look of her eyes was of someone who felt to be
worthier than others around. When she spotted the Death Eaters with Remus, she
stopped and looked at them coldly.
“What are you doing here? Who’s that?” she asked sternly and sized Remus
up. “Do I know you? You appear familiar to me...” she asked him, not giving
time to Rookwood and Travers to answer her previous question.
Remus stayed quiet. This woman mightn’t have remembered him, but he remembered
her very well. He had seen her once at King’s Cross station in the company of
Sirius’s parents and he could never forget the disdain in her eyes as she had
pierced him with her look that time when Sirius had named him his friend right
in front of her. She was called Bellatrix Lestrange.
The look of her cold, dark eyes was so penetrating that Remus shivered
unconsciously, but he didn’t look away and bravely endured her questioning
gaze. 
“Hogwarts, was it?” she was guessing. “What was your house?”
“Gryffindor,” answered Remus truthfully.
Bellatrix snorted contemptuously. “My stupid cousin was in Gryffindor, too,”
she said. “Did you know Sirius Black?”
Remus flinched a little.
“Yes,” he said cautiously. “Why?”
Bellatrix frowned. “I’m the one who’s giving questions here,” she said
with hostility. “Where you two friends?” she continued the hearing. 
“No,” lied Remus. As he knew about the relationship between Sirius and the
rest of his family, admitting they were friends might have been too dangerous.
“He was arrogant and bossy,” he added quickly when he had noticed Bellatrix
eyeing him mistrustfully. 
“Do you know him, Bellatrix?” asked Rookwood, using the pause in their
conversation.
“I thought so. It seems I was wrong,” she said thoughtfully. “Why is he
here, anyway?” she turned to the both Death Eaters. 
Rookwood led her from the earshot of Remus. 
“He’s both a werewolf and a wizard,” he whispered. “I thought we could
use him.”
“Use him? What for?” asked Bellatrix incredulously. “If he studied at
Hogwarts, he’s more likely Dumbledore’s man then Greyback’s puppet,” she
said reasonably. 
“I don’t think werewolves are able to feel something like gratitude. And
what future can he have, anyway?”
“Of what kind of use could he be to us?” Bellatrix asked again.        
“With the Dark Mark he would be directly under the Dark Lord’s command and
other werewolves under his...”
“What about Greyback? He’s the leader...”
“We don’t need Greyback. Who’s better? A filthy, stupid half-breed or a
young ambitious wizard?”
“Who said the other werewolves would follow the brat?”
“They’d follow the more powerful one, like dogs. And if Greyback
accidentally disappears... He’s treacherous, I don’t trust him.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you trust him. Everything depends on the Dark
Lord’s will.”
“But if Greyback gets to the cub, he surely won’t leave him alone,”
Rookwood didn’t want to give up.
“Kill the brat if you are so afraid of him,” retorted Bellatrix, annoyed.
It seemed Rookwood wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by the sound of
opening the door and a wizard, not much younger than Remus, stepped in.
“Bellatrix, Rodolphus’s back and...” he started speaking, but fell silent
when he noticed she wasn’t there alone.
“That’s all right, Regulus, come in,” said Bellatrix amicably.
Remus, standing by the stone wall under Travers watch, stared at Sirius’s
younger brother in surprise. What was he doing so far from Hogwarts where he was
supposed to be doing his homework in the Slytherin common room together with his
schoolmates at the moment? Did it mean... did it really mean he was a...?
Regulus noticed Remus’s astonished look.
“You!” he cried in the same amazement.
“Do you know him?” asked Bellatrix and looked at Remus suspiciously. 
This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. Remus cast a quick look at his
wand in Travers hand. The wizard was watching him carefully.
“Of course I know him!” Regulus answered. “He’s a friend of Sirius. I
often used to see them hanging together at Hogwarts.”
“A friend?” Bellatrix’s eyes narrowed. She glared sinisterly at Remus.
“So arrogant and bossy?” she made a step forward. “You rude little
beast!” she cried furiously. “I’ll teach you a lesson!”
She pulled out her wand.
“Crucio!”
Remus didn’t have much time to think. He jumped to Travers and instead of
trying to get his wand back as the wizard expected him to do he just hid behind
the bigger body and so confused him. Before Travers could realize what was going
on Bellatrix’s curse hit him with full strength. He fell down, writhing in
pain. 
Remus used the moment of surprise. He reached for his wand that had fell out
from Travers’s hand.
“Accio!” 
The wand flew right into Rookwood’s hand.
“Crucio!” cried Bellatrix again and this time she didn’t miss the target.
Never in his life Remus had felt a greater pain. Even his werewolf
transformations were less torturing than this. His body was like in fire, his
insides felt like being torn by a hungry wild animal.
“Crucio, crucio, crucio!!!” Bellatrix was shouting, berserk.
“That’s enough, Bella!” a clear man’s voice echoed from the door.
The pain stopped. Remus was shaking wildly all over lying on the soft carpet,
panting. He looked the way the voice had come from. Through the mist before his
eyes he could recognize merely a silhouette of a tall man walking to Bellatrix.
“We have no time to play,” he scolded her.
“Leave me lone, Rodolphus! I’ll kill that lousy werewolf!” Bellatrix
yelled.
“Dark Lord’s on his way here,” said the stern voice of Rodolphus.
Bellatrix calmed down at once. 
“He’s coming? Is he staying here tonight?” she asked excitedly.
“Regulus, take him to the cellar,” Remus heard Rodolphus and he saw a
blurred figure leaning over him. His hands had been bound behind his back by
Rookwood’s spell before Regulus helped him to his feet and dragged him out
from the room.

“Tobold the Mad, in year 1484 he fought a chimaera that lived in a hole in
mountains close the village called Morgana’s Gate in Scotland. The local
inhabitants suffered from the bloody attacks of the creature. Tobold was a
wanderer. During his visit in Morgana’s Gate he sought the chimaera and killed
it in a very cruel way – he used a Breathcutting Curse,” Lily read the notes
she had made while together with James and Sirius she had been studying the
document Remus had borrowed them from the Ministry archive. 
“What’s that Breathcutting Curse?” asked James curiously.
“It’s a killing curse,” explained Lily. “It makes impossible for the
victim to breathe freely. Well, you can get a minute amount of air into your
lungs, but it just lengthens your suffering. The cursed one dies slowly of lack
of air in big agony.”
“How cruel,” said Sirius in disgust. 
“The curse was favoured until the end of the sixteenth century when it was
substituted by the instant killing curse Avada Kedavra,” Lily finished.
“It was really more humane way how to kill someone,” said James
sarcastically.
Sirius looked at the watch on James’s wrist. “Half past six. Where can he
possibly be? He said he’d be at home until six,” he said, unsatisfied.  
“Don’t worry, he’s here in any minute for sure,” said James
unconcernedly.
“He’s never late,” said Sirius, frowning.
“Well, we’re done here. If you like we can go and return the file back to
the archive and in case we meet Moony we can tell him to hurry back home,”
suggested Lily, seeing Sirius’s unease.
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” James agreed and stood up from the table in the
kitchen in Sirius and Remus’s house.      
Sirius nodded, saying nothing. 
Lily took the file and together with James they went to the Ministry of Magic.
The archive door was still unlocked. They were about to enter when a young
wizard stormed past them into the archive.
“Frank!” cried James when he recognised the wizard.
“Oh! Hello James, hello Lily. I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry,” said Frank
Longbottom hastily and hurried to the desk where the old archivist was sorting
his notes. 
James and Lily walked in after Frank. 
“I’m sorry for disturbing you,” Frank apologised to the archivist. “I
need to know whether Remus Lupin works here?” he asked with urgency in his
voice.
Mr. Libris looked puzzled. “Yes... yes, he works here. But he’s already
left.”
“When?”
“It was about five o’clock or so.”
“Was he alone?”
“Yes, why?”
James and Lily looked at each other. 
“What’s the matter, Frank?” asked James. “What’s up with Remus?”
The Auror turned to him. “Do you know him?”
“He’s our friend,” answered Lily.
Frank sized both Lily and James up. 
“Come with me,” he said after a while.
Lily put the file she was holding on the archivist’s desk and together with
James she followed Frank Longbottom out from the archive.
“Dumbledore thinks he might be in trouble,” said Frank as they were walking
along an empty corridor. 
“What kind of trouble?” asked James.
“Well, he said Death Eaters might’ve been after him.”
Lily gasped. 
“Death Eaters? But why?” she asked.
“It’s hard to speak about it. I don’t know whether he told you,” started
Frank hesitantly, “and I’m not sure if it’s really true, it might be
rubbish, who knows...?”
“What?” James was impatient.
“He’s a werewolf,” said Frank at last.
“Oh, that...”
“You know...?” asked Frank, confused.
“Yes, we’ve known it for years,” said James calmly. “What about the
Death Eaters?” he asked, but Frank just raised his hand to silence him.
They reached one of the side exists from the Ministry. Frank led them out. They
were walking an empty side street when they heard a familiar voice.
“Here!” 
It was Alastor Moody. Frank went to him, James and Lily at his heels. 
“What are you two doing here?” asked Moody sternly.
“They are friends of Remus Lupin,” explained Frank.
“Classmates from Hogwarts,” added James quickly after he had noticed
Moody’s suspicious look.
“You’ve really got an interesting friend. A werewolf,” said Moody, but not
with hostility or anger. It was a mere comment.
A figure of a tall wizard with long silver beard and half-moon spectacles
appeared on the pavement. 
“I could expect to meet Remus’s friends here,” said Dumbledore with a
smile when he came to the group.
“He wasn’t there,” spoke Frank Longbottom immediately. “He left
sometimes around five and he was alone.”
“It doesn’t mean he left the Ministry alone,” said Moody.
“That’s exactly what I think,” agreed Dumbledore. “Rookwood and Travers
took him with them.”
“What do Death Eaters want from Remus?” asked James nervously. 
Dumbledore looked at him earnestly. “He is valuable to them. If I am right,
they want him to become one of them. As their ally he could establish his own
army of werewolves directly under Lord Voldemort’s command.”
“Remus would never do such a thing,” said Lily, convinced.
Dumbledore looked at her. “That’s why he is in deadly peril. Unfortunately,
I can’t go with you. Crouch has insisted on a visit tonight. I may catch up
with you later,” he said.
“That’s all right. Frank and I will handle it,” said Moody and Frank
nodded.
“We go with you,” said James and looked at Moody in a way that should have
told the Auror he wasn’t willing to hear anything else than “yes” from
him. 
Moody raised his eyebrow and looked at Dumbledore, who nodded. 
“You’ve got guts, Potter,” said the Auror in the end. “Well then. The
more the better as long as not too many. What about you, lassie?” he turned to
Lily.
She didn’t answer; she pulled the sleeve of James’s robes instead. “Sirius
doesn’t know anything. Someone should tell him.”
“Lily’s right. As I know Sirius, he’d go to rescue Remus by all means,”
said James to the Aurors.
It looked Moody was loosing his patience. “We haven’t got time to waste,”
he said, annoyed.  
“Lily,” Dumbledore addressed her, “you go and tell Sirius, then both of
you can catch up with Alastor, Frank and James. I’m convinced they took Remus
to Lestrange manor. It is in the West London. It is the most pretentious
residence in the vicinity. Now hurry!”
Lily nodded and Disapparated.
“Good luck to all of you. Be careful,” said Dumbledore to the rest.
They all Disapparated as Lily had done a while ago. 

The lovely sound of phantom bells echoed in the house. Sirius leapt to his feet
and ran to the door.
“Remus, I swear you’ll pay...” he stopped in the middle of the sentence
when he realized it was Lily standing there instead of Remus. “Oh, it’s
you,” he said, disappointed. “Did you meet Remus? Where is he?”
“Sirius,” Lily started slowly. “Remus... He can’t come back...”
Sirius stared at her, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“Death Eaters took him with them.”
“Death Eaters? Why? What for?” Sirius was confused.
“Dumbledore thinks they want him to join them.”
“Remus would never do something like that,” said Sirius, convinced, and
looked deep into Lily’s emerald-green eyes. In the next second he abruptly
turned pale as he had realized the full meaning of her words. 
“No, they can’t! They mustn’t!” he cried desperately. “Where is he? I
need to find him!”
“Calm down, Sirius!” Lily grabbed his hand. “James went ahead with Mad-Eye
Moody and Frank Longbottom. I came here for you. Dumbledore thinks the Death
Eaters took Remus to Lestrange manor...”
“Lestrange? That’s the guy that bitch Bellatrix wanted to merry! If also
she’s there...” Sirius shivered. “I know the place. Let’s go,” he said
in the end.
They Disapparated.
They reappeared behind a patulous bush near to a road leading to a pretentious
manor fortified with a high stone wall with a big gate of iron.
“Well, we’re here,” said Lily. “Now we’ve got to find James and
others.”
“Forget about James,” said Sirius impatiently. “We can’t afford to waste
time.”
He wanted to leave the hideout behind the bush, but Lily grabbed his arm.
“Sirius! Are you listening to what you are saying? We can’t save Remus
alone! We need help! We have to find others!”
“Be quiet!” said Sirius, and Lily fell silent immediately.
The gate before their eyes opened and a young black-haired wizard slid out on
the road. He looked back to the house as though he was afraid someone could be
watching him.
This time Sirius left the hiding place. Lily stayed where she was.
“What are you doing here, Regulus?” he barked at his younger brother. “I
don’t think mother would be pleased to hear you aren’t at school.”
Even though Regulus didn’t expect anybody to be there, he didn’t look
surprised.
“I know why you’re here,” he said, ignoring Sirius’s words. 
“Really? So tell me,” Sirius said, annoyed.
“Here.” Regulus pulled out something long and thin from the pocket of his
robes and handed it to Sirius, who recognized the object at once. It was
Remus’s wand. Sirius reached for it with shaking hand.
“He’s alive. He was just tortured,” said Regulus matter-of-factly.
“He’s locked in the cellar,” he added.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” asked Sirius, clutching Remus’s wand
in his hand. 
“That’s not your problem. Rescue him or let him die. I don’t care,” said
Regulus coldly. He turned around to leave.
“Thanks,” said Sirius suddenly.
Regulus turned back and looked at him. They were staring at each other for a
while. 
“Listen, Sirius,” spoke Regulus slowly. “I heard he was a werewolf. Is it
true?”
Sirius frowned. “Yes, it is. What about it?”
“If I were you I’d cut all bonds with him,” said Regulus.
“Mind your own business, idiot,” snapped Sirius angrily 
“As you wish,” replied Regulus in the same sort of tone. He turned around
and hurried away.
Lily came out from the hideout behind the bush. 
“He was tortured,” said Sirius absent-mindedly, looking at Remus’s wand in
his hand.
“Come on, Sirius,” Lily spoke to him gently. “We need to find James and
others.”
Sirius nodded, wordless.
They were walking along the stone wall, looking around in case they spotted
James with the Aurors. 
“Lily! Padfoot!” they heard a whisper coming from a group of thick bushes
growing by the wall.
“What delayed you so long?” asked Mad-Eye Moody after Lily and Sirius had
joined them.
Lily looked at Sirius, who showed the other three the wand he was still
clutching in his hand.
“Isn’t it Remus’s wand?” asked James. “How come you’ve got it?”
Sirius didn’t reply, so Lily took the floor. She told them briefly how they
had met Regulus and what they had heard from him.
“At least, he’s alive,” said Frank with relief when Lily had finished.
“We need to get on the other side of the wall,” said Moody reasonably.
“The air is clear. Are you all right, lad? You look sick,” he addressed
Sirius, who was paler than a while ago.
“I’m fine,” answered Sirius unconvincingly.
“Very well. I go first, then. Frank, lend me a hand, please.”
Frank helped Moody to climb up on the thick wall. Then he helped James and
Sirius, after them Lily, who also got help from James sitting on the wall, and
finally James and Sirius pulled Frank up on the wall to themselves.
There was a huge garden on the other side with big bushes cut into various
shapes, mostly of magical creatures. Moody was crouching behind a large centaur,
watching the surroundings while others were climbing up on the wall and jumping
into the garden.
After all of them had reached the centaur-shaped bush safely they cautiously
started moving to the house. 
Suddenly, they heard a sound of the opening iron gate. They quickly hid behind
the nearest bush shaped like a sitting fox. After a couple of minutes they could
see a small group walking the road leading to the house.
“Voldemort,” whispered Moody. 
They were watching the tall man on the head of the group and an unpleasant
feeling he wasn’t a human being overcame them. There was something demonic
about him, something ominous, something dark. His eyes were red; their look was
full of hatred and desire for an absolute power. With a huge snake coiled up
around his neck and arms he looked fearsome.
Lily quivered, so James took her hand to calm her down a little.
“There’s Narcissa and her fiancé Malfoy,” said Sirius abruptly and
pointed at a young blonde couple walking behind Voldemort. “What a nice little
family meeting,” he said bitterly.
“Be quiet,” Moody silenced him.
They were watching the coming Death Eaters until the group vanished in the
house.

Remus looked around the cellar used for storing the most various things. He
could see old furniture, boxes with china, magical artifacts, statues, books
written in ancient languages, tapestries, treasurable carpets, old robes and
many other things that laid everywhere around him. The room was dark; the only
way for the sunlight to get inside was a small window under a high ceiling. The
light was weak and from minute to minute was becoming even weaker. 
Remus sat down on the cold floor, leaning against the door behind his back. He
was longingly staring at the window. What is Sirius doing at the moment? he
thought. Is he worried? Of course, he is! He may be looking for him right now.
But he won’t find him. He’s completely alone in this cellar, wandless. His
body was still trembling after the Cruciatus Curse, but it was slowly getting
better. He needs to get out of here, or he’ll be killed for sure! 
He didn’t stop staring at the window. What if...?   
He cleared away a junk pile from the smooth wall under the window. He found an
old big heavy wooden table and two upholstered chairs. Getting the table to the
wall cost him almost all his strength, but he couldn’t afford to rest. He had
to get out from there as quickly as possible before Death Eaters would come for
him. 
He stood the chairs on the table, one on another, and climbed up. When he
reached the window he broke the glass with his elbow. Many small sharp shards
stayed hanging in the frame. Remus didn’t want to waste the precious time with
breaking them out. He crammed into the hole in the window frame and didn’t
care about the cuts he got. He had to get out from there, that was all.
As he sprang so that he could get better through the window, the upper chair
fell down with a loud thud. Remus stiffened. He listened carefully, but no sound
of coming footsteps was to be heard. With tenacity of a wild animal he was
scrambling out from his prison. The sharp shards didn’t spare him. When he
finally managed to get through the tight window frame, he had many bleeding cuts
all over his body and his robes were torn in many places. He didn’t care. His
only thought was the escape.  
  
“How shall we get into the house?” asked Frank as he was hiding behind the
large fox-shaped bush with Mad-Eye, Sirius, James and Lily.
The garden was separated from the house by a big lawn with no chance to hide.
“It looks like a fight,” said Moody and scanned indoors with his magical
eye. “There are fifteen Death Eaters plus Voldemort in the drawing room in the
west wing,” he informed others.
“What about the cellar?” asked Sirius uneasily.
“Look there!” whispered Lily suddenly. “There’s someone creeping behind
the corner!”
They looked the way she was pointing. A figure of a young man in torn robes was
standing there at the corner. He was watching the surroundings of the house. 
“That’s Remus!” said Sirius excitedly. “He’s injured!” He was
staring at Remus’s torn robes dirty of blood.
“Stay here, lad!” said Moody quickly. “I can see they’ve already found
out he escaped. There’s a Death Eater in the cellar.”
They were watching Remus, who didn’t know anything and slowly came out from
behind the corner. With his back pressed against the wall of the house he was
looking the direction to the garden. The only way there was across the lawn
where he would become an easy target to anyone standing at the door. He listened
carefully to the sounds coming from the house. It seemed he decided to risk and
started running to the garden. In the same moment the front door opened.
Sirius gasped. Held by Moody he couldn’t run to help Remus while Frank
prevented him to pull out his wand, and James covered his mouth so that he
couldn’t shout.     
“Calm down, Black! Or you’ll kill us all!” hissed Mad-Eye into his ear.
Sirius was watching, desperate, how Rodolphus Lestrange came out from the house.
The Death Eater spotted Remus straight away. He swept his wand and cried a
spell, but Remus jumped aside and so avoided the jinx successfully. However, he
lost his balance and fell down on the ground. Until he stood up again Bellatrix
had appeared in the doorway. 
She was madly waving her wand, trying to stop Remus, who was dodging her jinxes
instinctively as though he was able to predict from which direction the next
curse would come.
The noise outside lurked out the other Death Eaters, who were eager to help
Bellatrix and Rodolphus to stop and catch the fugitive. 
Remus was running for his life. Just a few more steps were separating him from
the garden. 
“Reducto!” shouted Bellatrix angrily. 
Remus leapt aside, but as he was already tired of the mad hunting on him, he
wasn’t quick enough and the spell flying past him rubbed against his ankle.
There was a loud crack and Remus fell down.
“Leave him to me!” Bellatrix cried and ran to Remus, whose broken ankle
prevented him from running any further.
“Don’t move until I tell you,” whispered Moody. “We mustn’t risk our
lives unless it’s necessary.”
“She’s mad, she’ll kill him,” said Sirius desperately.
James and Frank had let go of him meanwhile unlike Moody, who was still
clutching his arm. 
“You heard me. No action until I tell you,” repeated Moody firmly. 
They all stayed hidden, watching Bellatrix approaching to Remus, who was trying
to stand up, ready to face her even wandless. 
“You’ve got no chance, little werewolf,” said Bellatrix malevolently,
seeing Remus effort to stand straight despite the pain. “I’ll make you plead
for death. Crucio!”
It seemed Remus waited just for that. He jumped forwards as the injured ankle
allowed him, shoving Bellatrix on the ground. The wand fell out from her hand.
Remus reached for it, but it was too far and he was too slow to get a hold of it
before Bellatrix could. She pushed him away and leapt to her wand like a hunting
cat.
“You’ll pay for this!” she hissed. “Crucio!”
James, Frank and Moody pounced on Sirius, who was ready to go and help Remus.
Lily covered her face with her hands and sobbed quietly.
“Bellatrix! Where are your manners?” A strong voice of Lord Voldemort
echoed. 
She turned around. “He wanted to escape,” she replied stubbornly.
Voldemort just smiled. It was cold, malicious smile of evil. He walked to
Bellatrix towering above Remus curled up on the ground.
“He’s that wizard-werewolf, isn’t he? I want to speak with him,”
Voldemort said and looked at Bellatrix, who understood and returned to the other
Death Eaters. 
 Voldemort turned to Remus. 
“Stand up, boy,” he said authoritatively. 
Remus tried to raise himself on his hands, but he was already too weak to move.

“I can’t,” he said with effort.
“You can,” said Voldemort coldly. He waved his wand and Remus was standing
there with gritted teeth, shaking all over. 
“See?” said Voldemort with a venomous smile. Then he got serious again. “I
heard you might have been thinking about joining our lines,” he said in an
unnaturally friendly tone.
“I said I needed some time to think about it,” answered Remus, fighting his
pain.
“What is it supposed to mean?” asked Frank, confused. 
“Playing for time,” answered Moody confidently. “He knows they’d kill
him straight away him if he refused.” 
Voldemort laughed. “Unfortunately, I can give you no time. Take it or die,
boy.”
“Prepare yourselves,” whispered Moody that everyone in the group could hear
him.
“Then I choose death,” said Remus determinedly, looking directly into
Voldemort’s red eyes.
“As you wish,” said the Dark Lord, and his eyes glittered with cruel
pleasure.
“Now!” cried Moody, and five of them ran out from their shelter.
“Avada...!”
“Protego!” cried Sirius and conjured a magical wall between Remus and
Voldemort while the other four, using the moment of surprise, stupefied some of
the Death Eaters standing in front of the house, watching the show. 
In the same moment a great silvery phoenix circled above the head of Lord
Voldemort and his victim. 
“Dumbledore!” he cried angrily. 
Meanwhile Sirius ran to Remus and caught him as he was falling down to the
ground for Voldemort’s charm had been lifted from him. 
The attention of the Dark Lord was now focused on Dumbledore. He walked slowly
his direction.
“Remus... I was so worried...” Sirius whispered into Remus’s ear as he was
holding him tightly in his arms. 
“Sirius...” said Remus with relief. 
“Take him from here, lad,” the voice of Mad-Eye Moody sounded beside them.
“Go to the gate and Disapparate from there. Lily will help you. Frank, James
and I will cover your back.”
Sirius nodded and together with Lily they carried injured Remus away from the
reach of sparkling wands of raging Death Eaters, who had already recovered from
the first shock.
“What are you doing here, Dumbledore?” asked Voldemort. The tone of his
voice wasn’t so confident as a while ago.
“I’ve come here to see how you are treating one of my former students. I
daresay I’m not very pleased, Tom,” Dumbledore said calmly, but firmly. In
the very moment he looked unnaturally powerful and Voldemort beside him was just
like an immature boy. 
The red sparks came out from Voldemort’s wand, but the white ones extinguished
them almost immediately. It seemed Voldemort realized he had lost. It was
obvious who the stronger one was.
“You’re a fool, Dumbledore, “ he said. “Muggle-lover, friend of
half-breeds, protector of weak. I’ll destroy you one day.”
“I look forward to the day,” Dumbledore smiled. 
“As for today, I let you go. But next time I won’t be so generous.”
Dumbledore smiled again. “I don’t even expect it from you.”

Sirius helped Remus to sit down on a chair by the table in their cosy kitchen.
He took out a bottle of Firewhisky from a cupboard and poured the golden liquid
into a glass. 
“Here, drink it.” He stood the glass on the table in front of Remus.
“I don’t want,” he protested.
“Just drink it,” Sirius encouraged him while pouring another glass to
himself.
“OK then,” agreed Remus in the end. 
Meanwhile Lily started mending his bleeding wounds.
“I’m not sure what about the ankle,” she said after a while. “It looks
like broken, but it might be something more serious. It was a curse after
all.”
“Try it,” Remus said to her. 
“Are you sure? It may go wrong.”
“Yes. Do it, please.”
Lily glanced at Sirius. He nodded in agreement, so she set to work. She laid the
wand to the ankle and spoke the spell.
Remus made a painful grimace, but in a couple of minutes everything was over. 
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Much better, thank you.”
The phantom bells rang and James, Frank, Moody and Dumbledore walked into the
house.
“How are you?” Dumbledore asked Remus.
“Lily fixed me up.”
Dumbledore smiled at the girl. Lily blushed.
“I need to talk to you,” he spoke to the four friends. He was serious again.
“You’ve just seen and experienced,” he looked at Remus, “the true face
of Lord Voldemort and his supporters. Now you know how powerful he is, how we, I
mean the whole wizarding world, enabled him to become.”
“How could the Ministry of Magic allow him to act like this?” asked James.
“The Ministry of Magic can’t do anything anymore and it neither wants to.
Those clowns there don’t want to admit the failure,” said Moody.
“What about the Death Eaters at the Ministry?” asked Remus.
Moody snorted loudly. “Respectable employees,” he said sarcastically.
“Pulling the strings from the background.”
“They obscure the reality,” said Frank bitterly. 
“Everybody can’t be so blind! Aren’t there any people who can see what’s
going on?” asked Sirius hotly.
Dumbledore smiled. “Yes, there are.”
“There are wizards and witches who are prepared to risk their own lives in
order to save this world,” said Moody. “The Order of the Phoenix.”
“Wizards and witches who fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters,”
explained Dumbledore.
“Who’s in the Order?” asked James.
“We are,” answered Frank. “And many others. Dumbledore’s founded it.
He’s in charge.”
The four friends looked at Dumbledore in amazement.
“How can people become the members of the Order?” asked Remus.
“You don’t need more than will to fight for better and safer tomorrow,”
answered Dumbledore.
“Dumbledore, they are too young,” said Moody gravely.
“Today they proved they are capable enough.”
Moody said nothing more.
“What do you think?” Dumbledore turned to the friends.
“Today I was tortured and almost killed,” said Remus in a serious tone. “I
survived. I was lucky, I daresay. Not many people can say the same, I suppose.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters are cruel, bloodthirsty. They kill innocent, tear
the families apart, entertain themselves with torturing others. If I can do
anything to stop them, I will. And if it means to become the member of the Order
of the Phoenix, I’m ready to join.”
Dumbledore nodded. “Thank you, Remus.”
“I want to join as well,” said Sirius determinedly. 
“Can girls, too, join the Order?” asked Lily, her eyes sparkling with
excitement.
“Indeed,” said Frank. “My wife Alice is also the member.”
“All of us will join,” said James and put his arm around Lily’s
shoulders.
“What about Peter?” asked Remus suddenly. “We can’t leave him out of
this?”
Dumbledore gave him a piercing look. “Do you really want it? He was the one
who told the Death Eaters about you.”
“He didn’t mean to do any harm. And the best way to atone for his mistake is
to help the ones who need it. He should know about this possibility at
least.”
“All right then,” agreed Dumbledore. “I’ll tell him.”
Remus stood up from his chair. “If you excuse me, I go to bed.”
“Of course,” Dumbledore smiled.
Remus left the kitchen.
“Sirius,” Dumbledore turned to him after the footsteps on the stairs fell
silent. “As for Remus, I rely on you.”
Sirius nodded. He looked exhausted and sad. “I’ll take care of him, I
promise,” he said wearily.
“I think we all need proper sleep,” said Dumbledore in the end. “Good
night to all of you.”
He went to the door, followed by Moody and Frank. They Disapparated from the
deserted road.
“Are you all right, mate?” James asked Sirius when the three wizards had
left.
“Yes, I’m just tired.”
“I see. Don’t you need anything?”
“No, thanks.”
“Good night then,” said Lily softly and gave Sirius a small kiss on the
cheek. “Take care of yourselves.”
Sirius smiled slightly. “Yes, good night.”
James and Lily left Sirius alone in the kitchen. He had drunk another glass of
Firewhisky before he went to the bedroom. Quietly, he opened the door and slid
inside.
Remus wasn’t sleeping yet. He was lying in the bed already washed and in
pyjamas, watching Sirius approaching.
Sirius sat down on the bed beside him.
“How are you?” he asked and stroked Remus’s hair.
Remus just shrugged.
Sirius bent to him and kissed him on the cheek.
“I was afraid I’d lost you,” he said quietly.
Remus looked into his eyes. “I was sure I was gonna die there...” his voice
broke.
Sirius hid him in a comforting hug. Remus sighed.
“Oh! I’ve just remembered!” 
Sirius let go of him and stood up. He started digging deep in his pocket until
he pulled out a wand.
“My wand!” Remus cried, surprised.
Sirius handed it to him. With shaking hand Remus took the wand.
“How did you get to it?” he asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it, sorry,” said Sirius seriously and sat back
on the bed.
“Yes, of course. As you wish.” 
Remus touched gently Sirius’s hand. 
“Sirius,” he started hesitantly, “do you know where Regulus is at the
moment?”
Sirius ran the fingers through his hair nervously. “That’s what I’d like
to know myself... You better don’t ask me about him.”
Remus said nothing.
“Try to fall asleep. I go to wash myself and then I come back to you,” said
Sirius and stood up. Remus was watching him as he walked to the door and left
the room. 

When Sirius came to the kitchen in the morning, he found Remus there frantically
looking for something.
“Where’s the file you borrowed from the archive yesterday?” asked Remus.
“James and Lily returned it when they went there to look whether you were
still at work.”
“Oh! Well. So everything’s all right.”
“You don’t want to go to work today, do you?” asked Sirius suspiciously.
“I do,” answered Remus calmly.
“You can’t be serious! You need to rest.”
“I need to do something and not to stay here and think about yesterday,”
said Remus matter-of-factly. He came to Sirius and gave him a small kiss. “See
you in the evening,” he said and hurried from the house. 
“Be careful,” said Sirius quietly as he was closing the door behind Remus,
who had already Disapparated. 

Remus ran into the archive. 
“I know I’m late, I’m really sorry,” he said to Mr. Libris. He
couldn’t see Peter anywhere, but according to a loud thud in the labyrinth
Remus assumed he was there. 
“That’s all right, Remus,” said the old archivist kindly, but his face
told Remus there was something that wasn’t all right at all. “I need to talk
to you...”
“What’s the matter,” asked Remus, and he felt unease filling his mind. 
“Mr. Rookwood came here early in the morning and he told me... well... he told
me you were a werewolf,” said Mr. Libris as though it was hard to utter those
words of an unjust accusation that someone so contemptible could work in his
kingdom of parchment.
Remus turned pale. He felt coldness in his heart. 
“I think myself it’s just a nasty rumour,” the old archivist continued,
“but you know, Mr. Rookwood is a high ranking wizard, he has got power in his
hands and I can’t afford to oppose him, understand me, please, I’m sorry,
boy, I’m sorry...”
“That’s all right, Mr. Libris, I understand,” said Remus. “It was nice
to work here. Thank you and goodbye.”
“I thank you, my dear boy.” Remus could hear relief in the archivist’s
voice. “I wish you good luck.”
He left the Ministry of Magic. He was angry, disappointed. He felt helpless,
miserable, small. He walked overcrowded London streets until he came to the
Leaky Cauldron. He didn’t stay there, he continued to Diagon Alley, not
knowing what to do there. In the end, he walked into Flourish and Blotts, into
the world of books he liked the most.

“... I just say it’s strange. He acts as though nothing happened...”
“And what do you expect him to do? Stay at home and gaze at the wall, thinking
about how he was tortured? How he nearly got killed? I’d do the same in his
place.”
“James’s right. He wants to forget. To live the way he used to.”
“Yes. And you should help him.”
“I will. But still, it’s weird. Who would go back to the place from where he
was taken by Death Eaters?”
“He works there, he had to.”
James, Lily and Sirius walked out from Auror Academy. The Academy was connected
with the Ministry of Magic by the net of underground corridors, but it also had
it’s own entrance.
Now they were walking down the stairs leading to the Academy building when
Sirius suddenly stopped.
“That’s Moony,” he said, staring at a person sitting on the stairs.
“What’s he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be at work?” asked James.
Sirius nodded.
They came to Remus.
“Moony, what are you doing here?” asked Sirius and he sat down beside him.
“Waiting for you,” said Remus. “Don’t you want to go on a date? We
haven’t been on one for quiet a long time.”
Lily and James sat down next to Remus on the other side. Sirius gave them an
I-told-you sort of look.
“And we’ll go to the Leaky Cauldron, rent the cheapest room and spend a
passionate night there,” he said half-sarcastically. “Now seriously,
what’s going on? Why aren’t you at work? Come on, Moony, spit it out.”
“I was sacked,” answered Remus shortly.
“Wait a minute,” said James. “Mr. Libris gave you a sack? Why?”
“Our dear Mr. Rookwood told him what I was,” said Remus bitterly.
Sirius, Lily and James exchanged their looks.
“I won’t be able to work at the Ministry anymore,” continued Remus.
“What about Diagon Alley?” suggested Lily.
“Yes, I’ve already found something at Flourish and Blotts,” Remus smiled.
It was his first smile since his experience with Death Eaters. However, it
wasn’t a cheerful smile at all.
“I was lucky.  The shopkeeper’s assistant left yesterday, so he needed a new
one.”
“Congrats,” James grinned.
“Are we going home?” asked Sirius with hope and took Remus’s hand.
“I want to go on a date,” said Remus firmly.
“All right then, we’re going on a date,” Sirius gave up. “And where
to?”
“Anywhere.”
“Have a nice date,” said Lily and pulled James away with her.
Sirius and Remus went to Diagon Alley. They spent some time at Florean
Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour, visited Madam Malkin’s Robes for All
Occasions where Remus bought new robes and after that they were walking evening
London streets until they Disapparated back home.
Remus led Sirius directly into the bedroom where he started kissing him
passionately. Their lips met in deep kisses and Sirius felt something was wrong.
    
“Wait, Moony, wait a minute,” he said when Remus tried to take off his
friend’s robes. “This is not you. What’s going on? Tell me,” he said
gently and took Remus face into his hands.
“Nothing,” said Remus, avoiding Sirius’s look.
“No, that’s not true,” said Sirius. “Something’s troubling you, I can
see it in your eyes, feel in your kisses...” 
Remus stepped back. He looked like a child caught by lying.
“I’m afraid,” he said at last. “It’s just a matter of time when
Greyback finds out about me or Death Eaters kill me.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” said Sirius firmly and pulled Remus
to himself.
“No, you don’t understand,” said Remus sadly. “I’m cursed. I
shouldn’t be here with you, have a work, live like common wizards. I should
hurt people, kill them, act like a monster I am... they think I am ... Am I a
monster? Am I really so bad, Sirius?”
Sirius could hear helpless desperation in his voice, in his words. He hugged
Remus strongly. 
“You are not!” he said resolutely. “And whoever tells you that is a liar
and deserves a painful bite in the butt.”
Remus laughed quietly. “You would do that for me? Bite people’s butts?
“Indeed! And tear their trousers and chase them like rabbits.”
Remus laughed again. He kissed Sirius as a sign of gratitude for his words. 
He knew he wasn’t alone. Sirius was there for him, cared about him, wanted to
know all his worries, tried to encourage him.
And Remus took off his own robes, enjoying Sirius’s comforting kisses on his
warm naked skin... 


poor remus. he went through too much pain...
how did you like the job i chose for remus? i think working with anything he
could read was exactly the type of job he would fancy. the old archivist Mr.
Libris is my own character. his first name is Ex. Mr. Ex Libris, whose only joy
of life is his "kingdom of parchment". he didn't care much about the world
outside. remus was his favourite because he was able to know the archive order
in such a short time and became his precious helper (unlike  peter). the reason
why he had sacked remus was that he was afraid of werewolves, but he was afraid
of rookwood much more. 
see you in the next chapterXD
chapter preview: how do sirius and remus solve their argument? and what is
sirius's greatest fear? read the next chapterXD

Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)