Moony And Padfoot

Note: This story was written before 'Goblet of Fire' was published; hence some of the things here contradict what we learned from it. I hope this doesn't harm anyone's enjoyment of the story.

~

‘Now where do I go?’

Remus Lupin leaned back in the carriage and closed his eyes. He had some money, enough perhaps to buy a place to live somewhere isolated. But the events of the previous night were revolving in his head, and he couldn’t bring himself to consider the future just yet.

Harry had been right. His stomach gave an unpleasant wrench at the thought of adding ‘murderer’ to his list of unpleasant names, along with ‘werewolf’ and ‘vermin.’ But then, that was Sirius for you. Always, it had been Sirius who planned the most reckless and daring escapades, and his had been the voice of caution. But the final decision was always James’.

He felt a renewal of pain that always followed thoughts of James. That wound would never heal, and if it did, he would feel even worse for forgetting him. And to think that it had been Peter, little Peter … it didn’t surprise him that other people refused to believe it. Not even Dumbledore had considered it.

It occurred to Remus that without Snape around, he would have to go back to turning to a werewolf every month. He gave a wry smile at the thought that he might miss him. Ah well, he’d finally got his revenge now, forcing him to resign so spectacularly. But Sirius had escaped. There was that to be glad of. His only friend might be on the run, but he was no traitor.

The carriage wound through the streets of the village and pulled in to the station.

‘Shall I give you a hand with yer stuff, Professor?’ asked the driver, tipping his hat to Remus.

‘No, thanks, I’ll be fine.’ Remus took his battered suitcase and the tank from the rack and went in to Hogsmeade Station. Now he had to decide where to go. London? No. He’d had enough of the dirty back streets and the tiny flats where his every move was instantly known. He had to be far from other people.

Leaving his possessions on the bench, he examined the railway map. There weren’t that many choices; either to London or to one of the other little wizarding settlements scattered over the country. Perhaps he could try one of the Muggle places? But then he would have to hide himself even more deeply.

Remus took the map and sat down to consider the problem. If he wanted to find Sirius, he would have to choose somewhere safe. His eye was caught by a wizarding settlement in north Wales, Llyn Alwyn. That would certainly be remote. If he went there, he’d surely be able to find himself a place to live where his actions would not be overlooked. Not being someone who made impulsive decisions, Remus scanned the map carefully for alternatives. The only other thing was a place near Inverness. But that was a fairly large town, even if it was in the Highlands; if he remembered his geography correctly it was the centre of the wizarding world in Scotland. Llyn Alwyn it was, then.

The station-master had been watching him with undisguised curiosity. ‘Made up yer mind, then, sir?’ he said as Remus went to the ticket office.

‘A single to Llyn Alwyn, please.’ He fumbled in his pocket for the coins.

‘Llyn Alwyn, eh? That’s a tidy long way from here, indeed it is. Here you go, then. The train gets in at twenty past.’ Remus thanked him and went out onto the platform. There was only one other person waiting for a train, a pretty young witch who looked at his white face and tattered robes, and hastily moved to a bench further along. But he was almost too used to such a response to be troubled by it.

Llyn Alwyn station was deserted when Remus got off the train in the early evening. He looked around until he spotted a tiny notice that said, in Welsh and English, that the village was half a mile along the road. After twenty minutes of following the winding track through the hills, Remus began to wonder if he’d taken the wrong road. The soft ancient hills that surrounded him made it impossible to see if he was headed in the right direction.

Ten minutes later, he came to the top of a particularly steep hill and looked down. The evening sun was glinting off the waters of the lake for which the village was named, and nestled in the valley with it was a cluster of buildings, and around them woods and stone-walled fields. The road down was plain to see, and with renewed energy Remus adjusted his bag and the tank in his arms, and descended to Llyn Alwyn.

~

Throughout the summer, Remus lived quietly in the tumbledown cottage he had bought. The people from the village respected him, and whenever he went to the shops or the pub, the Duck and Daffodil, he was called ‘Professor,’ and treated as an eccentric scholar. This suited Remus, as he was left well alone. He passed his days growing rare and valuable plants which he sold to Ysgraine’s Herbal Supplies in Diagon Alley, and achieving a kind of fragile contentment. He had everything he could have hoped for, really, he told himself in the long evenings when he read and studied and tried not to think too much about anything save the immediate problems. He had peace and quiet, an escape from the hatred, and some work to occupy himself. Without the Potion, once a month he was transformed to a werewolf, and he rebuilt one of the outbuildings into a cell that would hold him so that he would not cause any trouble in the village. He was too far from the other houses for the villagers to hear his screams.

The summer – one of the warmest on record – came to an end. Remus had kept an eye on the Daily Prophet, and seen little mention of Sirius. His escape at Hogwarts had been splashed across the paper, but since then the Ministry had tightened security to protect their reputation. Halloween came, and Remus sat alone by the fire, his mind thirteen years away. Now that he knew the truth of the matter, in some ways the torment was less.

He did not sleep that night, though the moon was waning. Through the long dark hours he relived the murders of his dear friends over and over again, and the dramatic events of four months ago. Finally he fell asleep as the sky turned from black to navy, and the birds began to sing.

When the sun was high in the sky, he got up and spent the day digging very energetically in the garden so that he would escape from his thoughts for a little while. He was startled from his work by a cry of, ‘Professor! Professor! Are you there?’

Remus put down his spade and went to the front door. The man who worked in the post office was standing there, looking about him in nervous glances.

‘Hello,’ he said quietly.

‘Oh, I was just gettin’ worried there, Professor,’ said the man – Remus could not call his name to mind. ‘I thought I'd better come and see you were all right, like, seeing as how you didn’t come to collect that parcel of yours. And what with that news, m’wife was on at me to keep an eye on you, livin’ on your own out here.’ He produced a parcel done up in brown paper.

‘That’s kind of you. I'm fine, thanks.’ Remus took the parcel and noticed that the date was last week. He had been spending a lot of time in the cottage lately without going out, for it had been the full moon a few days ago, and then Halloween.

‘Terrible news, that. You must be worried, out here on yer own,’ said the postman.

‘What news is this? I haven’t seen the Prophet lately.’ Remus wondered what could have happened now to cause a problem in the magical world.

‘Why, haven’t you heard? They saw that escaped prisoner ‘round here – wossisname – Sirius Black. It was a Muggle what saw him, over in Aberystwyth.’

‘Oh…‘said Remus faintly, his heart pounding and his breath shallow.

The man carried on, full of his exciting story.

‘It was a little lad of a Muggle saw him, an’ he said he was walking like he was hurt. They could catch him any day now, the Ministry, they were right on ‘is tail. We’re all makin’ sure we lock up everything tight. You must’ve heard how he got caught last summer, and escaped again. They do say –‘ and his voice lowered conspiratorially, ‘they do say he’s one of You-Know-Who’s big men. And ‘round here! I'd be that scared, be if I lived out here on me own like you. Oh – you feelin’ all right, Professor? You’ve gone all white.’ The postman looked concerned.

‘Yes … yes, I'm fine,’ answered Remus distantly.

‘Come stay in the Duck till they catch him, why don’t you? You’d feel better if you were with other people, I reckon.’

Remus regained a little presence of mind. ‘I think – I'm sure I’ll be fine out here. There’s no need to worry about me. Thank you for calling.’

‘Well, if you change your mind, come up to the Duck and Daffodil. Good day, Professor.’ The postman walked back into Llyn Alwyn, leaving Remus standing stunned on the doorstep.

He went into the cottage and collapsed onto his chair, the parcel falling unheeded to the floor. Sirius seen – hurt – being chased by the Ministry. He closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. Memories of Sirius flew through his head – their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express, Padfoot with him during his transformations, Sirius defending him furiously against Snape’s insults, dancing at James’ wedding, rejoicing with James and Lily at Harry’s birth, the last time he saw him before James’ murder at the little house in Godric’s Hollow, and then the pictures all over the Daily Prophet of Sirius the murderer. And most recently the haggard, all but unrecognisable man whom he had seen at Hogwarts.

After a bit, he sat up. It was no use sitting here like a lemon, while his best friend fled from the Ministry all over the country. Even if he could do nothing at all, it would be better to try than to stay hidden away up here. He pulled on a pair of boots and his walking cloak, and put the things he needed into a little bag. He would join the search for Sirius.

Three days later, footsore and exhausted, Remus was miles from his home. He had seen no sign of Sirius save in the nervous faces and locked doors in every village he passed. People looked at him suspiciously when he walked into inns and pubs, and he was warned of his peril more times than he could count. It amused him, in a dark sort of way, that Sirius could terrify the entire country like this without even committing a crime.

In the villages, he did not ask for Sirius – that would have been suicide; instead he claimed to have lost his big black dog. He hoped someone might have seen Sirius when he was transformed without realising it, but nobody could help him.

‘A big black dog? Yer not the only one, it seems. There was a guy here day before yesterday, he said he’d lost his dog too. Funny, that.’

Remus managed to concealed his horror.

‘Really? Might have been one of my friends – it’s quite a valuable dog, and I asked my friends to keep an eye out. What was he like, this man?’ He could lie fluently when he needed to – long years of avoiding questions about where he went every month had taught him well.

‘Oh, he was really tall, an’ he had black robes an’ kind of yellowish skin. Had a quiet voice, well-spoken, like. His hair wanted a good wash, though –‘ The man broke off as he remembered that Remus had said it was one of his friends. ‘Can’t say I liked the look of him, what with all this worry about Sirius Black. But he said he was lookin’ for a big dog too.’

‘Oh, that’s my friend all right,’ said Remus, his mind whirling. He thanked the man and walked away quickly.

There was no mistaking the description. What was Severus Snape doing looking for a big black dog? How did he know? For there could be no doubt; Snape was looking for Sirius as well. How could he have found out? Remus cast his mind back to that night in the Shrieking Shack, and then it came to him. The Invisibility Cloak! Snape had been standing there all along, listening as he and Sirius explained about being Animagi to Harry and his friends. Of course, he would have remembered, and he had had the same idea as Remus.

Now the hunt was doubly important. Snape had probably told the Ministry, and if Sirius thought he would be safe when he was a dog, he was in terrible danger.

A door opened on the street, and a woman looked out.

‘Are you the chap who’s lost his dog?’ she called. Remus crossed over to her.

‘That’s right. A big black dog. Have you seen him?’ He held his breath.

‘Yes, I have. He was scrounging scraps off my daughter last night. I must say, you don’t take much care of him. He was all skinny and he’d hurt his leg, but he wouldn’t let my daughter near enough to have a look.’

‘He’s been missing a while, he must have been fighting or something,’ explained Remus vaguely, his heart thumping. ‘Did you see where he went?’

‘I’ll ask Lucy.’ She shouted something in the house, and a small girl appeared beside her, peering nervously out at Remus.

‘Mummy, who’s that man?’

‘He’s the owner of that dog you saw yesterday, dear, and he wants to know where it went.’

‘Oh, he ran off. I wanted to pet him, but he didn’t like me.’

‘Which way did he go?’ asked Remus in his most teacher-like voice.

‘Up the mountain. He needs to see a vet, I think. You should take better care of him.’ Remus controlled his expression.

‘You’re quite right, Lucy, I will take better care of him.’ He turned to her mother. ‘Thank you for your help. I've been looking for a long time.’

‘Not at all,’ she replied politely. ‘Do take care if you’re going to go up the mountain. The Ministry’s warned us not to go too far from our homes until they catch Black.’ Remus nodded absently, and went away.

He looked up at the mountain, and began to walk up a winding path. His every sense was alert, and his eyes darted over the bleak hills nervously. There were no sounds save the distant bleating of the sheep, and the cry of a raven high on the hill. He scanned the ground, but the recent rain had washed all tracks away. The quiet only made his tension greater. He tried to walk without making a sound, for fear he would frighten Sirius away before he was recognised. If he was here at all.

The sound of voices quite nearby made him jump. He froze. A little way further up the hill were two men in the green and orange cloaks of the Hit Wizard Squad. They were talking to a third man whom Remus couldn’t quite see. He crept closer.

‘Do you have any proof of this?’ One of the Hit Wizards was speaking.

‘For goodness sake, man, I've told the Minister himself about it, and he asked me to come here. Look –‘ The hidden man produced something white. Remus recognised the voice in horror.

The Hit Wizard read the paper slowly. Then he said in a much more respectful tone, ‘I do apologise, sir, but we can’t be too careful these days. So, Black’s an Animagus, is he? Well, well.’

‘What does he transform to?’ asked the other Hit Wizard. Remus could not hear Snape’s response in his quiet voice, but he had no doubt of what he was saying.

‘And you saw him in the village? I don’t mean to be rude, sir, but can you be sure of this?’

‘Of course I'm sure! I was at school with him, I know what he looks like.’

Their voices lowered, and Remus could not hear the rest of the conversation. Now what? Whilst he might be able to talk his way out of trouble if the Hit Wizards saw him, Snape would know at once what he was doing here. He wished he was an Animagus as well, rather than a werewolf; he would have no trouble in escaping.

Then he saw something that made his hair stand up on end. A skeletal black dog, slowly limping across the hillside. He was out of sight of the group ahead right now, but in a few moments …. He had no choice now. Remus straightened up and went on up the hill towards the Hit Wizards, making as much noise as he could.

‘Hey, you! This area is under surveillance by the Ministry of Magic! Stop!’ Remus stood still, and one of the Hit Wizards came down pounding down.

‘What are you doing up here?’

Remus thought fast. ‘I was just – just taking a walk. I didn’t know the Ministry was working up here.’

‘Who is it?’ called the other Hit Wizard, who was still talking to Snape.

‘Some idiot going for a walk.’ He turned to Remus. ‘I’ll ask you to go back down to the village at once, sir. It’s extremely dangerous up here.’ Remus could still see Padfoot creeping into the undergrowth, and he held the Hit Wizard’s eye.

‘Why? What’s going on?’ he asked coolly.

‘It is likely that Sirius Black is in the vicinity at the present time,’ said the Hit Wizard pompously.

Remus feigned horror. ‘Sirius Black! And I was up here all on my own!’ A small part of his mind was impressed with his acting. ‘I – I don’t think I'd feel safe walking down alone,’ he said, moving in between the wizard and Sirius. ‘Do you think you could accompany me back down?’ The Hit Wizard scowled, but nodded.

‘Right. I'm taking this idiot back to the village,’ he shouted up to the others. Snape looked down, and Remus turned away hastily. But too late.

‘Wait! Don’t let him go!’ Snape came tearing down the hill, with the second Hit Wizard trailing in his wake.

‘What the hell - ?’ The wizard turned to Remus with his wand held out. ‘Don’t move.’ Remus felt his mind racing. It was over now.

‘Severus,’ he said as warmly as he could manage as Snape leapt at him. ‘How nice to see you again.’ Snape glowered at him.

‘Are you acquainted with this man?’ the first wizard asked Snape, his wand still pointing at Remus’ chest.

‘I certainly am. He’s an accomplice of Black’s.’ Both wizards gasped.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I'm bloody sure! He was helping him at Hogwarts, and he’s here to help him now.’ The Hit Wizards turned to look at Remus in horror.

‘Is this true?’ With three wands pointing at him, Remus tried to muster his courage.

‘I have not committed any crime,’ he said tensely, unwilling to deny his friendship with Sirius.

The Hit Wizards turned to Snape uncertainly.

‘What are you going to do with him?’ Snape demanded, and Remus looked at the three faces, one furious and the others tense and nervous.

‘We’ll take him down to the village, Professor Snape, and hold him for questioning. I haven’t heard anything of Black having an accomplice before. We’ll contact the Minister, be certain of that.’

Snape was pale with anger. ‘You’d better take care to protect yourselves, that’s a werewolf you’ve got standing with you.’ The Hit Wizard nearest to Remus swore and leapt back in horror. Snape’s wand flashed, and Remus felt cords lashing themselves around him.

‘Come on, then, if you’re taking him down to the village,’ said Snape, grabbing at the loose cords roughly. The Hit Wizards were still staring at Remus as though he were a bomb that might go off in their faces.

‘Thank you, Professor.’ Snape jerked on the cord, and with a Hit Wizard holding each of his arms, he was half-dragged down the mountain. Looking over his shoulder, he could see no sign of Padfoot, and felt a rush of relief. Dumbledore would speak for him, and the Minister would remember the last time he had been arrested on the same charge, so he would be all right. And he had given Sirius a chance to escape.

In the village, curtains were twitched aside to see the man the Hit Wizards had captured. He was taken in to the police station, and thrown into a tiny stone room with no windows. Vengefully, Snape pushed him to the floor and stared down at him in triumph.

‘Well, Moony, it looks like you’ve had it now,’ he hissed. ‘And we’ll have that friend of yours as well in no time at all.’ Remus made no reply. ‘Oh, you think you’ll be all right, you think that poor gull Dumbledore will help you out again, but just you wait.’

One of the Hit Wizards came in. ‘Professor Snape, can you come and give us your evidence? We’ll be speaking to the Minister as well, and I'm sure he’d be interested in what you have to say.’

Snape nodded. ‘Enjoy Azkaban, Moony,’ he said as he left.

Remus lay on the stone floor, thinking. He hoped with all his might that Sirius would have seen the Hit Wizards and got as far from the area as he could. But the image of Padfoot, painfully thin and lame, seemed to be branded across his memory.

Some time later – Remus had no way of knowing how long he’d been lying in the cell – the door opened. One of the Hit Wizards was standing there, and Snape with a thunderous face behind him.

‘Professor Lupin, we are pleased to inform you that you are released from police custody,’ said the wizard formally. He bent and undid the binding ropes and helped Remus to his feet. His arms and legs were numb, and he nearly fell again. ‘Sorry about that. Still, we can’t be too careful these days.’

‘Oh, don’t mention it,’ said Remus dryly.

‘Now, if we can just take your details…’ Remus sat down opposite the Hit Wizard in an untidy office. Absently, he answered the man’s questions. While the wizard was writing something unintelligible in a file, he could hear raised voices outside.

‘What do you mean, you’re letting him go?’ That voice was Snape’s, and it was rough with anger.

‘Order of the Minister. He says Dumbledore himself will vouch for him.’

‘Anyway,’ chimed in another voice, ‘we’ve wasted enough time on him. Thanks to you, we’ve lost the track. I'm beginning to wonder whether you’re just playing around with us. First you say Sirius Black can turn into a big dog, and then you order us to arrest an innocent man – I don’t know why you’re disrupting the service like this, but I must say, it’s a bit much…’

‘Professor Lupin?’ Remus looked up. ‘Thank you for your help. You may leave. I'd advise you to return to your home for now, and try to keep out of trouble.’ Remus suppressed a smile at being addressed like a first year student.

‘Thank you,’ he said. He was escorted out and onto the street.

Well, he didn’t seem to have much choice now. If they caught him hanging around where Sirius might be again, it would be difficult for Dumbledore to insist on his innocence. Especially as he knew perfectly well Remus would do anything for Sirius. He went to the train station and got on the next train to Llyn Alwyn.

TO BE CONTINUED

Comments, constructive criticism, thoughts, suggestions, rants, questions, even praise; all are welcome.
Thanks.
Blaise