Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Balkeirv ❯ Lion's Den ( Chapter 2 )

Balkeirv

Chapter Two: Lion's Den

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.

 

 

 

Remus took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing into his bindings. He was on his knees awkwardly, ankles and wrists bound, then bound together behind him. His knees and muscles ached, and having been stripped right down to knickers, he was quite cold, but it wasn't the torture the DMC officers seemed to think it would be. The change he went through every month was incomparable to any other pain he'd ever experienced, and although he was uncomfortable, he could probably tolerate it as long as they cared to keep him like that.

 

“Mr. Lupin, you have no idea the trouble you have caused the ministry,” one of the officers spoke, clucking his tongue, like Remus was a wayward child. Remus knew the man, Paul Boggs. He also was pretty sure that Mr. Boggs was, at the very least, on the take for Voldemort.

 

“Trouble? Really?” Remus raised an eyebrow. “Up until a few hours ago, I was one of the ministries most lauded Aurors. That's quite a fall from grace.” Remus couldn't help but retort, the only weapon he had available to defend himself with at the moment was his tongue.

 

“That is precisely the trouble. As I am sure you know, you've been labeled a dark creature, which nullifies you from service to the ministry. Working as an Auror while well aware of your deviant status, you've committed treason.” Boggs replied with a condescending smile.

 

“I have rights, Boggs. I want to hear the charges against me. I want access to a solicitor and I want my three owls.” Remus said calmly. He knew full well none of those things was going to be granted. He had no rights, under the law, as a werewolf. He wasn't classified as human.

 

“You know full well you have no such rights. Now, I want to have a little chat with you. We know there are other unregistered werewolves out there. We want to know how you've managed to avoid the registry. If you cooperate with me… I'll see what I can do.” Boggs hitched a hip up on the only piece of furniture in the room, a single stool. There was one light overhead that dimly lit the small area. It was little more then a box of concrete with a door.

 

“If you refuse to acknowledge my civil liberties then I insist I be treated as a prisoner of war,” Remus also knew this was going to be refused, but he knew that stating he was a prisoner of war would give him more leverage later, assuming he didn't slip and fall on a silver bullet. On the other hand, the muggle British government had let nineteen of his Northern Irish countrymen and women die during hunger strikes. It was unlikely the wizarding community would respond differently.

 

“There is no war,” Boggs replied briskly.

 

“Fine, so what am I bargaining this information you want for?” Remus sighed. He didn't bother to try and shift his weight, it wouldn't ease any of his aches and it would give Boggs the satisfaction of knowing he was uncomfortable. He held as still as stone.

 

“Your friends and family. You see, it's known that you and Sirius are… poufs, and are poufy together—“

 

“I think the word you're looking for his hot man on man action,” Remus smirked, rewarded by watching Boggs squirm, surely bombarded by mental images, as Boggs knew both of them.

 

“The point is, the intentional exchange of any fluids between werewolves and humans is illegal, and is justification to put him in quarantine for up to six months.”

 

“You can try… I don't think it will work though,” the Blacks were still a name in the community after all, and Sirius and James were the most famous pair of Aurors of the decade. It was almost comparable to Russian snipers during World War II. “Come on, Boggs, both of us know that Sirius and the Potters are untouchable. Most of my siblings haven't spoken to me in years, so you can't have anything to accuse them of, and if you lock up my mother, she'll probably thank you for the vacation. Tell me what you're really after here.” Remus was already sick of this interrogation. He was tired, he was uncomfortable, and he was worried about his friends. James had been lying on the floor when Remus had last seen him, surely only stupefied, but it didn't ease his mind much. Sirius was sure to be a basket case by now. Remus just hoped the man wasn't doing anything insane, that Lily and James were able to keep him reined in.

 

“I want to know about the Order of the Phoenix,” Boggs replied, his voice having grown speculative.

 

“The what of the what?” Remus replied, raising an eyebrow, tossing his head a bit to get his hair out of his eyes.

 

“Don't play dumb Lupin. It doesn't suit you. The Order of the Phoenix. I know the Potters are members, and if the Potters are, then you and Black are as well. Tell me about the Order.”

 

“Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you, mostly out of sheer spite. I didn't like you before you dragged me out of my home in the middle of the night, striped me naked, stuck your finger in all kinds of places, and hogtied me. Now, I have a vested interest in going out of my way to annoy you.” Remus gave up at trying to pretend he wasn't uncomfortable, and shifted slightly so he was resting on a different part of his knees.

 

“That attitude won't get you very far, Lupin. I can kill you and burry you in a shallow unmarked grave and there isn't a thing you or yours can do about it.” Boggs replied, clearly irritated. That gave Remus at least a small amount of satisfaction.

 

“You could,” Remus agreed with a nod. “But do you think Mr. Potter and Mr. Black would continue to risk their lives for the ministry if you did? Or Longbottom? What do you think Dumbledore would have to say about that? Hmm? I may be little more then an animal to the law, but I have friends in high places,” Remus smirked. “In fact, let me tell you a little secret. I'm not afraid to die, not even a little, and I would relish being the little, worthless straw, that brings down the ministries camel.” It was true too. Remus didn't want to die, he was too busy for such nonsense, but he wasn't afraid of dying. He wasn't an important man, but he had loyal friends who were important men and women. Right now, the ministry was a house of cards. If someone like James, or Merlin forbid, Dumbledore, denounced the ministry… it would be the kind of chaos that gladdened a Marauder's heart.

 

Boggs growled, and backhanded Remus roughly. Remus toppled over and cracked his head on the cement floor with a grunt. He tossed his tawny hair out of his face again, smiling sweetly up at bogs.

 

“Haven't you Brits learned? Don't mess with the Irish,” Remus grinned even as Boggs' boot came at his face and when it connected and the world went black with a sharp crunch, Remus went gladly with it.

 

 

O O O O O O O O O O O O

 

 

Remus awoke aching and cold, much as he had been when he had last been awake. He was alone though, that he knew immediately, there was no scent of person or animal around him. Only the musty smell of damp cinderblock walls and stale linen. He moved his limbs tentative. They had been unbound, and he sighed in relief, stretching out slowly. He was laying on something hard, but it wasn't the floor. When he opened his eyes, it was just as dark as when they had been shut. Solitary confinement.

 

He sat up slowly, feeling around him. He was sitting on a wooden ledge bolted to the wall, a `bed' such as it was. There was a single blanket under him, still folded. He had just been dumped on top of it. At the end of the bed was something else, cloth, folded; it was lighter then the blanket. He unfolded it, exploring with his fingers. There was not even a sliver of light, so his eyes couldn't even `adjust' there was simply no light. Ah, a prison uniform. Remus wasted no time in pulling it on, not caring that they were prison garb. He was cold. There were even socks. Once dressed, he wrapped the blanket around him like a cloak. The clothes and blanket both smelled strongly of others who had worn them over the years, but nothing worse then the smell of old clothes.

 

Slowly he felt around his new `home'. There was a bucket of relatively clean water, and another that was empty, which was for the obvious. That was it. His face ached fiercely, and he suspected his nose had been broken by Boggs' kick, but the lycanthropy was already healing it. If it had bled at all, someone had washed him off before they dumped him.

 

All in all, Remus felt he had won round one. He was still alive, and had been given the bare necessities, a bit of warmth, a bit of water, and a pot to piss in. He lay back down on his board cum bed and closed his eyes, falling into the slow even breath of meditation, reaching his mind out for Sirius. They hadn't yet mated, in the metaphysical sense (the carnal sense, though, was an all together different story), but there was still a bond between them. Remus didn't think Sirius was truly aware of it yet; Remus was though. It stretched between them like some spiritual umbilical chord. It was thin, faint, but always growing stronger. When Remus focused his mind a certain way, almost like crossing his eyes, he could see it, a thread of the faintest pink. He followed that thread with his mind, trying to find his way to Sirius, wanted to let Sirius know he was okay. He tried several times, but the bond between them just wasn't strong enough and he gave it up as a bad job. He had one more link though.

 

Remus touched the palm of his left hand with the fingers of his right, feeling the raised scar there, an othala rune. It was very old and ancient magic, the kind he and Lily both had a knack for. Remus knew all about the oldest kinds of magic, the kind done without wands, because it was in his family. The women in the Lupin clan were Earth Witches. Apparently he had some of that femininity in him, because he carried the same powers, enhanced by his lycanthropy, which was earthy and primal. Lily likely had Earth Witches somewhere in her line. Most true redheads did. Primal earth magic used blood, dirt, piss, dances, gestures, words, all deeply tied to gender and representative things like types of wood or stone. To most witches and wizards it was disgusting and complicated. To Remus and Lily both though, it made a fundamental sense. James and Sirius may have enchanted mirrors to communicate, and their little communicators worked very efficiently, so long as you had the mirrors. What Lily and Remus had done allowed them far more vague form of communication, but one that required no props, and thus far, had no limits of distance.

 

The othala rune was the rune of kinship, friendship, safety and familiarity. They had made themselves kin. They had created their own ritual, etching the rune into each other's flesh with a little silver knife. Remus had had to wrap the handle with his handkerchief to use it, and the pain of Lily cutting him had been terrible.

 

“Remus, maybe we shouldn't do this,” Lily murmured, biting her lip as she lifted the knife away from his flesh. She had only made one line, and Remus's face was tight with pain. It wasn't the cut, it was the silver. The flesh around the cut was red and even blistering.

 

“It's fine Lily, just do it, it'll be worth it,” Remus said bravely. He couldn't keep silent the small whimper that escaped though, when she pressed the blade to his flesh again, pressing until blood welled up, then she drew it across his palm, making an x. His whole arm was trembling as he resisted the urge to jerk away from the pain. Lily started to cry. She finished the rune with a trembling hand, tears rolling down her face, splashing onto the fresh wound. She finished with a sob, releasing his hand and throwing her arms around him.

 

“I'm sorry Remi! I'm sorry! I didn't know it would hurt so bad!” She cried. Remus fisted his injured hand, trying to keep from bleeding on her as he hugged her with his other arm, still panting a bit.

 

“It's okay Lily, really, I have to do the same to you. We better hurry, or I might heal up,” he said, wanting this to be done, he hated to hurt Lily as much as she hated to do the same to him. Lily nodded and freed him from her embrace, offering her palm to him. Remus gripped it in his bloody hand, and put the knife too her. She gasped when he made the first cut, but made no other sound as he quickly lay open her palm in the mirror image of his own.

 

“I don't think it was as bad for me,” she said, though she too was a little breathless. She leaned over and spit in his palm. “Urgh, sorry, that's so gross,”

 

“Yeah now it's your turn,” Remus smiled, returning the favor, then they clasped hands tightly, wound to wound. Above them, the moon was one day after full. Remus had had his change last night. They were supposed to do this rite under a full moon, but that wasn't an option. “Ready?”

 

Lily nodded. They whispered the incantation they had invented, whispering it in a round until it became a chant. A heat grew between their clasped hands, spreading up their wrists and arms. They had both had their eyes closed, but Remus opened his when he heard Lily gasp. A pastel yellow light surrounded their hands and was moving up their arms. They almost stopped with shock. They hadn't expected to actually be able to see the magic they were working. The chant faltered, and so did the light, and quickly both of them resumed, knowing that leaving magic half done could have terrible consequences.

 

The light spread up their arms like a rising tide. When it reached their respective chests, the light intensified over their hearts, forming a warm glowing ball. Then suddenly both balls of hot light seem to explode, but in a very directed fashion, exploding into each other. Their chant stopped at a crescendo, and as the echo of their voices faded from around the lake, so did the light.

 

“I think it worked…” Remus whispered, at least a little surprised. Slowly, they unclasped hands. Their wounds looked no different, Remus's red and irritated, Lily's just bleeding. They carefully bandaged up their hands.

 

After a couple of days, when the wounds had healed, they had placed the bandages in a jar, with broken glass, nails, as well as dirt and ash from their home yards and hearths. They had finished the spell with bodily fluids from both of them. It had been gross, and they had immediately put the jar in a cloth bag so as not to look at the mixture. They had buried it among the roots of their tree down by the lake. It was a protective act, to seal the spell, hence the broken glass and nails. They had dug it up when they graduated; it had then been reburied in a very large potted plant for a couple years, until finally the four of them had moved in together. Now it was buried under the willow in front of the house. The had kept it in the cloth bag, not wanting to see what had become of what they had put in that jar. But it was an amazingly powerful talisman. One that Lily had tied many of the protective charms on the house to.

 

The jar and its contents were of no use to him any more. That was women's magic, more then he could access. What the real intention had been though, when they had done all this, was to create a tie between himself and Lily. It had worked. They couldn't communicate in words, but they could communicate in feelings. It was all very vague, but they could convey very general ideas to each other.

 

Remus clasped his hands together, and thought of Lily. Remembering that day had been a good start. As he thought of Lily, he intermingled another idea. I'm okay.

 

O O O O O O O O O O O

 

Lily was washing dishes with a vengeance, scrubbing at a frying pan that had been clean for ten minutes. She couldn't help it though. She missed Remus terribly, and feared for him. Mum Lupin had spent all yesterday at the ministry, as had James and Sirius, but they had gotten nowhere. Remus wasn't being allowed visitors. She was fairly certain Remus wasn't dead. Her and Sirius would have both been able to feel that. She didn't think he was terribly hurt either, or certainly between her and Sirius they would have felt it. But She wasn't positive. Neither was Sirius. Sirius wasn't a calm man at the best of times, mercurial, always in motion both physically and emotionally. Now, he couldn't calm his mind enough to even try and reach out for Remus, or stop and listen for him. He was like a moth in a jar. To be honest, though, Lily wasn't doing much better. What the hell were they doing to her best friend?!

 

There was a faint tingle in her left hand. She paused. Not a tingle, more of an itch. She bit her lip. Could it be? Lily let the pan slip back under the water, taking a few steps back to sit down at the table. She closed her eyes, pressing her left hand over her heart. I'm here Remus, keep trying! She urged him mentally. There was no direct response, there never was, that wasn't how this worked. She waited though, clearing her mind.

 

A feeling of calm stole over her, not peace, per se, but a certain settled feeling. It wasn't her emotions either, this wasn't originating from her. It wasn't a sense of rightness, things weren't great, but they weren't bad either. They were… okay… Remus was okay! She started to leap from the chair then paused, calming herself back down. She sat, still and silent, sending back, not a response, exactly, but her own feeling. A feeling of completeness, like scratching and itch or finishing a puzzle. She waited until she felt that same feeling mirror back at her, then allowed herself to leap to her feet.

 

“Sirius!” She shouted, throwing open the back door, “Sirius!”

 

He was sitting in the gazebo that was in their back yard. Most of the time, it served as a garage for his flying motorbike. It was there today, and Remus's tools were laid out along one of the benches, but Sirius was just staring at the bike. It had been a gift from Remus. His head jerked up, and he too leapt to his feet.

 

“What, what is it?! What's happened!”

 

“It's Remus! He's okay, Sirius.” She hopped up the three short stairs, her ponytail swaying, spontaneously throwing her arms around Sirius. “He's okay.”

 

“How do you know?” Sirius frowned; his return hug was distracted as he patted her back.

 

In response, Lily simply held up her palm with the othala rune scared on it. “He told me so,” She smiled a little. “And we can't lie to each other through this,” she added. Remus was a very skilled liar, mostly about his feelings, but since he had to be experiencing and emotion to relay it, it was almost impossible to lie.

 

“Are you sure?” Sirius asked clearly not wanting to be given false hope.

 

“Positive,” Lily patted his chest. “Absolutely positive. Trust me, we've had this since we were thirteen.”

 

Sirius took a deep breath and sat down as suddenly as he had stood, not quite collapsing,

As he buried his face in his hands. “Oh thank Merlin… God, I want to see him!”

 

“I know Si, we all do,” Lily tried to sooth, petting his head. He leaned into her a bit. The friendship among the four of them was very affectionate. Not that there hadn't been plenty of misunderstandings when they were younger, the group dynamics were a little crazy, especially when Peter was figured in. Now that she and James were married though, and Remus and Sirius were so clearly devoted to each other, there were far fewer of those. So when Lily saw James watching them from an upstairs window, she offered a sort of sad wave. James lifted his hand in return, then disappeared from the window, coming out the back door moments later. He put an arm around both of them, his best friend and his wife.

 

“It will be okay guys, Remus is tough,” he said quietly. “After a life time of lycanthropy, dealing with the Ministry will be a cake walk,” James tried to joke. It fell flat though. Lily felt lighter, knowing that Remus was indeed okay, but Sirius seemed to have found little comfort in it. Merlin, what a mess.

 

Come home soon… Lily thought, come home soon, Remus, we need you.

 

O O O O O O O

 

Author's note: Man I feel like this was a bit all over the place. I hope you guys are enjoying this at least a little. It's funny, I have so many ideas that are so inherently part of these characters, and it's hard to figure out how to fit in what I need so everything makes sense without just writing pages and pages of narration. Anyway, I know a few of you are reading this, so I hope you enjoy.