Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Balkeirv ❯ Prolouge ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Irish

Balkeirv

Chapter One: Prologue

Disclaimer: In case you weren't sure, I don't own Remus, Sirius, Lily, James, the ministry of magic, the condition of lycanthropy, or the Harry Potter universe in general. I do own Mum Lupin, the rest of the Lupin clan, and various other original characters throughout.

Warnings: Adult situations, graphic violence, nudity, slash.

Irish Speaks: Okay, so, I am assuming a few things here, and I suppose I could write it all out, but it would be a story onto itself, so, bear with me while I brief you on what's going on. This is shortly after James and Lily got married. James, Lily, Remus and Sirius (Remus and Sirius being a couple) are all living together in a nice two story, four bedroom, two bathroom brownstone (Because there is no way either couple on their own could afford a house so young, in the real world anyway). The boys are all working as Aurors, their own little Three Musketeers thing. Lily is working as a muggle school teacher. Peter is around, I'm not forgetting him, he just isn't an auror, and since the other four are coupled off is kind of a fifth wheel. Lily isn't yet preggers with Harry. Okay, I think that's all you need to know. Sorry for this little preface.

~*~*~*~*~

Remus had always been a light sleeper. There was no real reason for it, not that he was aware of anyway. Insomnia too had plagued him since even before his Hogwarts days. Tonight however, he slept rather soundly, his handsome lover spooned nicely around him, naked body to naked body. Sirius was snoring softly, one arm around Remus's waist, the other under his pillow, hand wrapped around his wand. Remus's lay on the mattress near his wand hand.

In the next room, Lily Evans, now, Lily Potter too lay asleep, her head on her husbands shoulder. Her wand was only slightly further away on the edge of the bedside table. James had an arm around her, face turned slightly to her hair, a faint upturn to his lips. In quieter times, James preferred to sleep on his side, curled protectively around Lily. These days, his name high on Voldemort's list, he slept on his back, so he could sleep with his glasses on. His wand rested in his lax right hand.

It was Lily who woke first, eyes snapping open, feeling the charm that protected their front gate break. She lay still a moment, listening. This had happened before, more then once, and it had simply been a stray cat. But her heart was pounding too hard to be ignored, and her minds eye saw Remus's face.

“Jamie!” She hissed, sitting up, having no more then to shift her weight before James too as sitting up.

“What is it?” he whispered, listening, ears straining.

There was a heavy pounding on their front door. James recognized `the knock'. He had used it as Head Boy, and now as an Auror. The knock of authority. He let out a breath he had drawn sharply, momentarily relived. Deatheaters didn't knock. It was a short respite though.

“Remus!” Lily half whispered, throwing off the covers scrambling from the bed, naked body glowing in the dark as she frantically pulled on the pair of jeans James had chucked across the room a couple hours before. “They are here for Remus!”

Remus had stirred, waking just enough to look at the time, three in the morning, and had turned over on his back to go back to sleep when the pounding on the front door sent him from the bed, startling him enough that he was actually on his feet before he realized what was happening. Sirius was crouched on the bed, wand in hand, looking around a bit wildly before focusing on Remus.

“Who is it?” he rasped. He knew though. So did Remus, even before he cautiously peered out the window that over looked the front step.

“DMC.” Remus sighed, dropping his wand hand, flicking his wand briefly so the light came on. Department of Magical Creatures.

The pounding came again, seeming to shake the whole house. “Department of Magical Creatures. Open this door immediately!”

Sirius and Remus looked at each other briefly, then at the door as they heard the heavier footsteps of James fly by.

“Remus, no...” Sirius whispered, climbing off the bed quickly. “Run, run, james and I can stall them...”

Remus was hurriedly pulling on a pair of jeans, eyes darting around the room. He had prepared himself for this mentally. He had been flaunting the law too much for too long. Dumbledor and Moody's protection only extended so far. Everything he had mentally prepped though, flew out of his head.

“Run where, Si? Where would I go? How long can I run?”

There was another pounding that was punctuated by James's voice “Keep your knickers on, Christ man!”

“Your mum's, go to your mum's.” Sirius pulled on his own recently discarded jeans.

“Remus!” Lily burst into the room, only just decent.

“I know.” He sighed, lifting tired eyes to his best friend. “I know. But we knew this was coming.”

Lily shook her head, hugging herself. Sirius was trying to take hold of Remus's hands as his lover was trying to pull on a shirt.

“Remus! Please!” He begged, gray eyes frantic “Please! They will take you away!”

“I know. Sirius, it will be okay.” Remus finally took Sirius's hands. “It will be okay. Here...” he slid the white-gold band off his ring finger, folding it into Sirius's hand “They will just take it from me.” He paused a moment, and took off the small locket that hung around his neck.

“Oy, now you can't just barge in here. Where is your warrant?” James snapped from downstairs. He stood at the foot of the stairs, not letting the ministry men past.

“Out of the way, you are harboring an unregistered werewolf. We don't need a warrant.”

Lily ran out of the room, sticking her head over the bannister, watching her husband push back one of the uniformed men. James was going to get hexed...

“Like hell. I know the law. This is not property of the accused, you can't search it with out a warrant.” James was bluffing, he knew he was. The deed to the house was in Remus and Lily's name, much to James's chagrin.

“Mr. Potter,” The older man in the group of four that was trying to get past James stepped forward. “I would hate to have to stupefy an Auror, especially one with your track record. I would hate even more to charge you with obstruction.”

“Then don't. He'll come down when he is ready.”

Lily glanced over her shoulder into Remus and Sirius's room. Sirius had changed to Padfoot, for Remus to say his goodbyes. Her throat burned as Remus bent to kiss Padfoot's snout, Padfoot's whining clear to her ears.

“Oy!” James shouted again, as two of the ministry men tried to force their way past James. James wasn't a particularly big man, but quiddich and deatheater catching had put a lot of muscle on his average frame, and he put all of it to use, clutching the banister, leaning forward with his shoulders. Lily glanced at Remus and Sirius, who was now again Sirius, before she rounded the banister and scrambled down the steps to stand behind her husband, who had managed to repel the men once more.

“Let him be! He's coming down. Let him say his goodbyes!” Lily shouted, her hands on James's shoulders, ready to help brace him should they try to bowl him out of the way again.

“I must insist you produce the fugitive immediately, Mrs. Potter.”

“Wank off-” Lily had been about to shout more, despite her husbands quiet admonishments for her to hush, when Sirius called her name sharply.

“Lil,” he beckoned up the stairs with his head as he came down, moving to stand beside James. The shouting grew, and Lily knew spells would start to fly soon. Time was disappearing fast. She ran back up the stairs, meeting Remus just as he was coming out of his room.

“Lil,” He whispered, holding his arms open to her. She flew to him, hugging him hard.

“Remus Jean Lupin, whatever happens, I don't care what you have to do, you come back to us whole.” She rasped against his chest.

Remus hugged Lily tight to him, kissing her hair. “I will Lily, I promise you. Take care of Sirius for me... you know what a wreck he is left to his own devices for too long.” His voice was deceptively calm.

“I will. I will make sure he eats and sleeps. I promise.” She stepped back, looking into Remus's eyes, Remus small enough that they were nearly the same height. “Remus... what do you think they are going to do with you?”

“I don't know. Probably Azkaban. Tell my mum, too. She'll know what to do.” Remus cleared his throat.

“I will. Remus...” she cupped his cheek. “I love you, you come back to us whole.” She said again, tears finally flooding her eyes and flowing down her cheeks. “You're my best friend in the whole world.”

“I love you to Lily.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “I better get down there.”

Lily had started to nod, but the din downstairs had reached a fevered pitch, there was a dull thump and Sirius's voice raising above them all.

“Mother fuckers! Stupefy!”

“Jamie!” Lily gasped, turning from Remus, knowing he would be right on her heels, pounding down the stairs into the thick of the men. Sirius brandishing his wand, but looking just as ready to crack some skulls with his bare hands. She dove past him, seeing James on the floor at the foot of the stairs, eyes wide and staring, his body stiff with a spell.

“Wankers!” she shouted again, stamping a bare heel on some booted feet until they let her past. She wasn't sure all that happened, but the men, it seemed like a dozen of them, but it was only four, surged forward all at once, Sirius's feet scrabbling on the stairs, trying to hold them back. There was no quarter given for her and her prone husband.

“Remus Jean Lupin.” One of the men called in an official voice. “You are under arrest for not registering yourself as a werewolf under article twelve of the werewolf decree. If you will not come with us peacefully, we will be forced to take you by force.”

“I have every intention of-” Remus didn't get to finish though, the forest of legs around Lily lunged forward again, and Sirius cried out, hitting the stairs with a thud, sliding down almost to Lily and James, left with no options but to protect his head and try not to get trampled.

There was another thud, and a soft cry, this one Remus's. Lily looked up long enough to see Remus being forced to his knees roughly on the second or third topmost step, one of the officers, restraining him by the back of his neck, forcing his face to the carpet, holding him there as his hands were jerked roughly behind his back.

“Don't you dare cuff him!” Lily had had enough. They had stunned her husband, trampled her and Sirius, and now were brutalizing Remus. “He said he would come with you!” She leapt to her feet, starting to beat on the two men who were holding remus down, searching him roughly, fists pummeling at their backs and shoulders. “Stop it! You get out!”

She got their attention quite quickly, certainly not hitting like a girl. A ministry man wrapped his arms around her from behind in a bear hug, pinning her arms to her sides. Sirius was back on his feet, shouting too.

There was another few moments of chaos, Lily wriggling with all her might, cussing like a Scotsman. Sirius shouting, wand out, though he didn't dare do anything for fear of hitting the prone Remus. The ministry men were shouting about arrests and impeding justice, but as Remus was pulled roughly to his feet, stumbling backwards down the stairs, his voice, hardly raised at all, cut through the din.

“Sirius! Lily! Enough, enough!” he was being dragged backwards down the stairs by his bound wrists, and he narrowly missed stepping on James. Sirius stopped, watching Remus half skipping as he tried to resist just long enough to say his piece, not wanting to be pulled away just yet. “I love you Siri. Lil, I'll see you soon, okay?”

The two had stopped struggling, both faces stricken as they watched the werewolf finally shoved bodily out the front door, hearing him hit the pavement. Rough voices barking at him to get up. Sirius finally came unglued from where he stood and ran down the stairs, jumping over poor james, standing in the door.

“I love you too Remi!” He shouted after him, as Remus was pulled beyond their front gate, and disappeared into thin air.

~*~*~*~*~

“Shit.” James hissed, feeling a goose egg on the back of his head. Lily was trying to tend to it, but James's wild hair did nothing but get in the way.

“I'm going to shave you!” She finally cried exasperated. She didn't feel the tackiness of blood though, and let up.

Sirius sat on the floor, having unhinged before quite making it to a chair. He sat with his legs folded under him, sort of leaning against one of the living room chairs, his wand hand limp and listless as his eyes were. Lily knew she should comfort him, but her own anger and grief were all she could handle. She flopped down on the couch next to James, covering her face with her hands.

“This is bull shit.” she whispered. “After all he has done for the Ministry... bull shit.”

“We have to floo his mum.” James sighed, glancing at Sirius. When Sirius didn't so much as blink, James went over to him, sitting on the chair he was leaning against. “Si, come on mate, pull it together. He'll be fine.” He said bracingly, rubbing his shoulder.

“He never hurt anyone!” Sirius shouted angrily, suddenly animate as he slammed his fist on the floor. “Never!”

“I know, Padfoot, everyone who knows remus knows that. But the law doesn't care.” James sighed, glancing over at his wife. “Lil, can you floo Mum Lupin? She likes you best anyway.”

“We have to get him back.” Sirius was on his feet so suddenly James barely had time to lean back out of the way to keep his head from colliding with Sirius's. He started to pace restlessly, raking his hands through his mop of long dark hair. “Goddamnit!”

“Sirius, enough.” James tried to be patience, he knew he would be half out of his mind if he had seen Lily hauled off like that.

Lily had gotten up from the couch, and grabbed the floo powder from the mantle. She lit a fire with her wand with a brief thought, before tossing in a handful of floo powder.

“The Ramble.” She said firmly, waiting the moment it took for the flames to change before stepping through. This was the kind of news that had to be given in person.

Kaern Lupin was a woman well into her fifties, but like her son, was given to looking a bit older then her age. She was awake already, which didn't surprise Lily. It was five in the morning, time to start the day's bread, before all the children woke. Of course, there were no children to speak of any more, Margot, the youngest, was now thirteen and off at Beauxbaton.

“Mum Lupin,” Lily called softly as she stepped out of the large kitchen hearth.

Mum Lupin jumped a bit, turning sharply. When she saw it was only Lily, she let out a breath, tucking graying strands of red hair back from her face, a hand covering her chest over her heart.

“Child! You gave me a fright!” She said somewhat indignantly, but as she lowered her hand it was clear on her face she knew that what had brought Lily at this hour was certainly no relieving news. “What's happened to Remus?”

Lily bit her lip, looking at the older woman a moment, her second mother. Not that her first wasn't good enough, but Mum Lupin was everyone's mother.

“The DMC came and arrested him.” She said softly. “About an hour ago.”

Kaern closed her eyes a moment, taking a slow deep breathing, letting it out just as slow, her hand had come to rest over her heart again.

“I see. and where have they taken him.” She queried, her face calm and impassive.

“We're not sure, the ministry for now, we think, to be questioned and held for trial.”

Mum Lupin snorted and shook her head. “Oh aye, a trial.” She said with an uncharacteristic sarcasm. “I know what kind of `trial' he'll be getting.”

Lily knew full well too that whatever `trial' Remus got would hardly be worth the name.

“I'm sorry, Mum Lupin. James and Si will be doing all they can with what influence they have. He refused to run, Mum, he knew what he was taking on.” Lily only prayed Remus really did know what he had gotten himself into this time.

Author's Note: This was inspired by another fan fiction I read years ago, the idea of Remus being arrested and sent off. I don't know who wrote that piece or I would give them credit by name. I am obviously taking some liberties with the characters, but if I didn't feel they were plausible ideas, I wouldn't use them. Yes I know JKR has said the J in Remus J Lupin is for John. Jean is the French version of John, and since I'm already breaking cannon by not having Remus straight and with Tonks (who is, by the way, young enough to be his daughter) I'm having his middle name as Jean. Also, I would like to give credit to a good friend and ex-co-conspiriter, Wolfie, who helped develop this idea and later characters that have yet to be introduced.