Among Wolves

Note: A birthday fic for the lovely Fleshdress. With smooches to Lazy_neutrino for the rapid, colourful beta, and to Dark Twin for puppyish inspiration :).

Afterwards, Sirius could never forgive himself for not noticing sooner that he was being distracted. But then the ballroom had been crowded and the fairies, dancing on the walls and ceilings with their tiny lanterns, made the large hall glitter like jewels in a courtesan's hair. Sirius had given cousin Bellatrix a dark look when he thought this, where she reclined on a couch between the two Lestrange brothers, her throaty laugh evoking a fleeting, pleasant shudder.

After paying his respects to the hosts - Abraxas and Godiva Malfoy were old-school nobility and would accept no less - and making his apologies for his parents - dragon pox was highly contagious after all - Sirius delivered his far less heart-felt best wishes to the newly-engaged couple. Lucius Malfoy swept a high-browed glance over Remus and Peter, while Narcissa, predictably, snubbed them both altogether to exchange a few pleasantries with James. There were no comments as to his choice of companions, even though Sirius knew there would be hell to pay as soon as Mother found out.

In retrospect, Sirius had to grin at the memory of Regulus' towering fury at being deemed too young to represent the family at what had to be the wizarding occasion of the season. It looked as if his parents' judgement had been sound this once, though - yes, the engagement party looked like an advertisement for the wizarding influential and fashionable, but it had a rough element. Unsurprising, really, for a crowd that included Lucius Malfoy's friends.

The four had stormed the buffet first, which had calmed Peter out of his bad case of nerves. It wasn't really their outfits that made Moony and Wormtail look out of place - Peter could afford decent dress robes, and Remus looked quite elegant in James' spare set. It was their knowledge of being out of place that made them stick out.

Then cousin Narcissa had showed up to drag Sirius off to dance, not even trying to reprimand him for bringing unsuitable company to her party, or becoming cross when he commented on Lucius having so quickly deserted her.

"Ah, you know how it is." She swayed languorously to the beat of the music. "He's got to make sure everyone's settled." For a while, fragrant hair and the very soft body in his arms had chased all thought from Sirius' mind.

She left him to talk to her future parents-in-law just in time for Sirius to see James dragged off to the dance floor by cousin Bellatrix. He threw Sirius a grin that was both helpless and excited. Chuckling, Sirius made his way back to the buffet, nibbling on a few almond-breaded shrimps and chatting absent-mindedly to the parade of Black toadies who inquired about his parents.

He even caught a glimpse of Snivellus, clinging to the robe tails of the younger Lestrange like an ugly lapdog. Well, Snivelly had been Lucius' little favourite before Malfoy left Hogwarts to dabble in the Dark Arts, or whatever else he got up to with his cronies. Still, if they had invited the greaseball, no one could say a word about Sirius' choice of companions.

After another twenty minutes or so, he spied Wormtail, cornered in a less than well-lit niche right off the door to the entrance hall by Alecto Carrow, and evidently unable to look any higher than at the woman's considerable chest. Grinning to himself, Sirius grabbed a flute of Haute Enchanté from the tray of a passing waiter - no house-elves at a Malfoy occasion, thank you very much - and went looking for Remus.

He'd traversed the ballroom and the antechambers open to guests at least twice without a sight of his friend when he started to get nervous. Surely Malfoy wouldn't try anything at his own engagement party even if Sirius had forced him to admit a detested halfblood. But then he hadn't seen Lucius anywhere either...

A side glance at the dance floor revealed that James was still twisting in Bellatrix's scarlet-tipped claws. Sirius caught his eye with a meaningful look and went to fetch Wormtail.

Peter was leaning against the wall in the corner Sirius had first seen him, although the Carrow woman was gone. Sirius had to put his hand on the arm of the dazed-looking boy before Wormtail turned to look at him. When he saw his face, Sirius sucked in air. Wormtail's brown eyes were vacant, his expression slack like Bole's when James had hit him with a Confundus. Fear welled up inside him, and the force of his "Finite Incantatem!" left Peter reeling.

"What happened?" Sirius hissed. "Where's Remus?"

Peter gulped and mopped his sweaty face with his robe sleeve. "He was right there," he croaked. A frown formed on his face. He looked around as if he had no idea how he'd got here. "We were at the buffet, and then there was the witch with the big..." He made an expansive gesture in front of his chest, although Sirius could see that his heart wasn't in it. "We talked, and then you were there..."

Sirius cursed and turned when he heard the familiar tap of James' loafers. Prongs' face was still flushed from the dance and the proximity of Bella's breasts. He sobered immediately when he saw Sirius' expression.

"Remus is gone, and Wormtail has been Confounded," Sirius explained and grabbed his wand from the pocket of his dress robe. "We've got to-"

James shook his head slightly and stared over Sirius' shoulder. Sirius turned to face the staircase that wound its way up the left-hand side of the manor's huge entrance hall. On the top stair stood Remus. Behind him, frosty hair gleaming like a sheet of ice against the luscious black of his robes, was Lucius Malfoy. He had one hand on Remus' shoulder. The smiling mask Sirius remembered from school was firmly in place on Malfoy's face - the one that could go from amusement to contempt to smiling death in a heartbeat with the merest twitch of a muscle.

Remus' face was a mask too - his skin tense over his bones, and dead pale above the scarlet flames that livened up James' spare dress robes around the collar and sleeves. Even Remus' brown hair seemed dulled. He held himself very stiff as if every move pained him, or as if Lucius' hand on his shoulder was made from raw fire.

Lucius' hawk eyes caught Sirius' little band at the bottom of the stairs, and he steered Remus towards them.

"Cousin Sirius," he nodded. Remus ducked away from under Malfoy's hand, not shrugging it off so much as twisting out of reach. "I found your little friend upstairs."

No way, Sirius thought. He or James might have sneaked off to explore the manor and be caught snooping by Malfoy, but never Remus - he was too shy, too well brought up. Sirius took a reflexive step closer to shield Remus from Malfoy's presence. On Remus' other side, James did the same until they framed Moony's tense body.

Malfoy looked at Remus, smiling away Sirius' and James' presence altogether. "I hope you enjoyed your little... trip, Mr Lupin."

Remus said nothing; his tense mouth went even thinner, and his lower lip trembled.

"Excuse me now..." Malfoy swept by them without looking back, robes flowing behind him like lapping waves.

"What-" James hissed, voice lowered, but Remus' shaky inhale made him fall silent.

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well - can we leave?"

Remus' face left no room for objection. They left.

***

Sometime during the night, the transfigured spring somewhere inside James' bedroom couch had reverted to its original, sharp self and poked Sirius awake. James was snoring softly in his bed, and there was no light beyond the curtains. No sign of morning.

They'd given the guest bedroom to Remus, who looked dead on his feet and in desperate need of a good night's sleep, while Sirius kipped on James' couch. Peter, whose mother lived in London, had Flooed home. Sirius suspected that Remus would have been happy to escape as well, especially since James watched his every move with suspicion, upset that Remus stubbornly refused to talk about what had transpired with Malfoy. But then Remus' folks were always happy to dump him on the Potters for a few days before the start of school.

Sirius rearranged his bottom away from the poking threat, but sleep evaded him. His throat was parched from the champagne. He considered nipping down to the kitchens to ask the Potters' house-elf for a pitcher of pumpkin juice, but she was an elderly creature and probably fast asleep by now. Water it was, then. He slipped off the couch and tiptoed to the door.

On bare feet, Sirius padded through the corridor towards the bathroom. Outside the guest room, a muffled sound caught his ear. He froze in mid-step.

It couldn't be - he'd never seen Remus cry. Not as a first year covered in cuts and bruises from his mysterious 'illness', not when his family found excuse after excuse not to have him home over the holidays, and not even when that Hufflepuff cow Hopkirk exploded a cauldronful of Bubotuber distillate all over him and sent him to the hospital wing for weeks. Wormtail was the one who sniffled all the time, and even James had cried when his mother died in second year. But never Remus.

Sirius had almost convinced himself that he'd been imagining things when he heard it again. Without thinking, he pulled the door handle and slipped into the dark room.

The curtains were pulled shut, and all Sirius could see was the dark, averted lump of Remus' head against the white pillow. "Moony?" he whispered.

There was no reaction, but Sirius could feel Remus tense inside his nest of sheets. He realised that he was anything but welcome, yet couldn't bring himself to sneak back out. Instead, he took a few steps closer to the bed. "Are you all right?"

Moony didn't move, but his voice was clear, not even trying to convey sleepiness. "I'm fine. Go to bed, Sirius."

Taking his cue from generations of Blacks who'd all been obnoxious bastards, Sirius decided to plough on. "What did Malfoy do to you?"

"Nothing." Remus' voice was distinctly clipped now. Yeah, sure, Sirius thought irritably. He rattled you to tears with nothing!

He put a hand on Remus' pale shoulder above the blanket. "Don't lie to me, Moony."

He wasn't prepared for the abruptness with which Moony whipped around and shoved him away, so hard that Sirius stumbled and nearly fell on his arse.

"Get your hands off me and get out, Black!"

Hurt, and quite angry now, Sirius grabbed both of Remus' shoulders and shook him hard. "Don't give me that!" he snapped. "You're my friend - my bloody brother - so don't talk to me like that!"

Moony freed himself with a frightening snarl on his face. He snatched Sirius' wrist and twisted until Sirius could almost hear the bones crack. He sucked a hiss of breath into his lungs, but swallowed any sound of pain. Sometimes Moony's strength came through. He might not intend to injure him, even though Sirius wasn't prepared to bet his life on it right now.

Something raw ghosted over Remus' face, and he let go. "I'm sorry."

Careful not to rub his aching wrist, Sirius crouched down at the foot of the bed. "Tell me. Please."

Remus made a sound that reminded Sirius of the choked sobs he'd heard, and wiped a fist over his face. He was wadding a corner of his pillow in his hand as if he was trying to throttle an enemy.

"He was there." The expression on Remus' face, illuminated by the fuzzy moonlight that crept around the corners of the thick curtains, made Sirius shudder. "Fenrir Greyback." Remus' fists were balled so tightly they had to hurt, and Sirius wanted to touch them badly just to drain away some of Remus' tension.

He'd heard of Greyback's exploits as Lord Voldemort's secret weapon, of course - who hadn't? But even though Remus had been attacked as a child three or four years before coming to Hogwarts, Sirius had never connected that incident with Greyback. With his father a lowly Welsh cauldron maker and his Muggle mother, Remus just didn't seem to be worth the attention of one of Lord Voldemort's nearest and dearest. And Remus had always been incredibly close-mouthed about the assault.

Fenrir Greyback... suddenly, Sirius found it a lot harder to breathe in the stuffy little room.

"He was the one who attacked you." It wasn't a question, and Remus didn't need to answer.

"He recognised me, right there in the middle of the crowd." Remus bit his lip. "He stunned Peter and shoved him on a girl that was with him, and took me upstairs to tell Malfoy just who he had among his guests."

"Greyback..." Sirius repeated, unable to let go of the terrible images the name had conjured up. "They say he... did he..."

"God, no!" Remus hissed in shock. "He... I'm too old for him now." He wiped his mouth again as if to scour away the memories. "He just laughed and left me with Malfoy. Said my kind was aging quickly, so better 'sample me' while I was still tempting." His voice spiralled upwards at the end, high and brittle, and Sirius touched his arm gingerly. He could feel the muscles jump under the clammy skin, and realised how hard Remus had to struggle not to recoil.

"Malfoy said if he told my secret, I'd be thrown out of school, and perhaps be put down for subverting the Werewolf Registry. And then he asked what I'd give in return for his silence."

"What-?" Sirius started, and fell silent under Remus' hard stare.

"He found it amusing to 'domesticate' one of my kind, and to make me pay for entering a pureblood household. What more do you want? Dirty details?"

Sirius flinched as if he'd been struck, even though he knew he deserved every bit of Remus' rage.

"It's my fault - if I hadn't taken you there..." If he hadn't thought it such a great prank on his snobbish cousin and her pureblood-pride mad fiancé to bring Remus along...

Again, Remus grabbed his wrist - the other one this time, thankfully. "No - I'm sorry. It's nobody's fault but Malfoy's, Padfoot. Not yours, not mine. I'm just... angry."

And hurt, and humiliated. Sirius felt a sharp prick in his eyes and dug teeth into his lower lip.

"We can still go and talk to the Aurors," he said, knowing already that Remus would never agree. "Malfoy assaulted you and consorts with Voldemort's people - he's probably a Death Eater himself, and if you tell them under Veritaserum-"

"He'd still make it public, and the parents would have me thrown out of Hogwarts in no time," Remus finished tiredly. "Just let it go."

"You won't be trying anything... stupid, will you?" Sirius asked hesitantly.

Remus' bitter chuckle caught him by surprise. "Like what? Sneak out of school and kill him?"

Sirius didn't smile, just shifted nervously on the mattress. Remus shook his head. "Kill myself, you mean?" This time, his snort was quite evident. "And hand Malfoy the ultimate triumph on top of what he did to me? Not bloody likely, Padfoot!"

"I'd really like to kill him for you, though," Sirius said softly, although he'd rarely meant anything as heartfelt in his life.

"Don't," Remus advised, and for the first time, Sirius thought he saw a tiny smile crinkling the corners of Remus' eyes. "I'd hate having to explain to James why we have to go and break you out of Azkaban."

"It'd be worth it," Sirius muttered.

Remus shook his head again. "No. We'll get him back one day, but not now. One day he'll stumble over his own arrogance, and we'll be there to see it. There will be vengeance - for both of us."

He probably meant it, Sirius knew. Remus was the strongest person he'd ever met in his life. The ensuing silence told Sirius that it was time to retreat, but he couldn't bring himself to get up. It made him feel as bad as Malfoy, wanting to touch Remus when he was this hurt, but the urge still prickled in his fingers.

"I'm still not happy leaving you alone," Sirius confessed, eyes on his bare toes.

"Then don't." Remus' voice was surprisingly light, but then Sirius knew how good he was at putting on an encouraging facade. "I know the state of James' couch." He moved his back towards the wall, and pushed one of the crumpled blankets at Sirius.

Slowly, unsure whether he was forgiven or just comforted, Sirius pulled the blanket towards him and sank down onto the corner of the mattress, the wooden frame digging into his back. He could hear Remus' shallow breaths, and after a while found the courage to put his hand over Remus', hardly daring to breathe for fear that Remus would pull away in horror.

They finally fell asleep, each on their own side of the bed, holding hands like children. It was only when Sirius woke up next morning to find Remus curled against him, his head resting on Sirius' chest and peacefully drooling on Sirius' pyjama top, that he began to believe Remus might be all right after all.

***

A week after the start of the new school year, one late afternoon found Sirius loping back towards the gates of Hogwarts from a trip to the Shrieking Shack. He brushed dust from the underground passage under the Whomping Willow off his robes, and wished he'd brought along one of the Butterbeer bottles he'd deposited - along with a basket full of cauldron cakes and Chocolate Frogs - in the shack. They all ended up parched and ravenous after transformation, and chocolate helped Moony recover.

He was so pleased with himself that he almost overlooked the beak-nosed figure standing half hidden in one of the stone niches that lined the castle's outer walls, and had evidently observed his approach for a while.

"Planning another nightly trip to the woods, Black?" Snivellus Snape asked, and Sirius cursed himself inwardly. Had the git seen him climb out from the hole under the Whomping Willow? He considered drawing his wand and Obliviating the pest, but Snivellus was already holding his own wand between stained fingers.

"Spying on us again, Snivelly?" Sirius asked contemptuously.

"Not quite, Black. In fact, I've been waiting to talk to you for a while." A thin smirk sliced across Snivellus' ugly face. "Lucius Malfoy asked me to convey his regards, and to thank you for your engagement gift at his reception. He found it very satisfying."

Hatred bubbled like acid in Sirius' chest, and his expression actually forced Snape back a step. The thought that Malfoy had told Snape of all people what he'd done to Remus, and that the greaseball found it funny...

Usually, it was Sirius' temper that boiled over and got him into trouble. But if there was one thing he'd inherited from his mother, it was that they were both most dangerous when they were not screaming with rage. Now, he could practically feel the blood draining out of his face. He felt terribly cold.

"You've always been so interested in what we're up to at night, haven't you?" he said softly, ignoring Snape's comment about Malfoy altogether. "Well, all you have to do is to prod the knot on the trunk of the Whomping Willow with a long stick."

He gave Snape a challenging stare, no muscle betraying the abyss of fury that gaped inside him. Snivellus was just like Malfoy and his ilk, always eager to cause pain and humiliation and death. But Snape, at least, would reap what they'd sown, and give Remus a little taste of well-deserved revenge.

Sirius shrugged and turned his back before pausing and throwing a look over his shoulder at the puzzled Slytherin. "Why don't you show up tonight, and find out?"

~ finis ~