Variations

Chapter 11: The Story of the Marauder

It could never be said that Twelve Grimmauld Place was an ideal location to spend one's afternoon, a fact that had only become more pronounced with Sirius' passing, but that day, and a few leading up to it, had been alright.

Maybe it was because their pattern of battle after crisis after battle finally seemed to have put an end to itself, or because there was always a few more people around than usual since they had fewer targets to guard, or because they'd all gotten a few good hours of sleep, but Remus was actually beginning to enjoy himself. There was also, of course, the fact that his hand in their game of poker contained the beginnings of a flush.

However, when he sent two cards to Shacklebolt, the two he got back were no help at all. It was a theme that continued for the rest of the round, until he was almost ready to agree with Mundungus when he next tried to ague that it really wasn't poker without Firewhiskey. He knew, at least, that he should have folded while he had the chance, especially since their game had digressed to involve the removal of minor articles of clothing.

"Take it off, old man," Tonks said when they finally showed their hands, eying his pair of threes with amusement.

Remus winked at her as he pulled off his remaining sock and tossed it on the pile. She might tease, but he knew when he ran out of minor articles of clothing, she'd take his side. That seemed like a rather likely eventuality as well, given that Remus was playing against two Aurors and a conman.

Four similarly unlucky hands later, Remus had narrowly won back his sock, lost it again, lost his other sock too, and volunteered to clean the dishes for the next week rather than remove his robe (Tonks' siding with him hadn't turned out quite the way he'd anticipated). He'd just decided that if he wanted to leave the game with any dignity at all he'd best do it soon, when a cat leapt heavily onto the table and settled itself directly on their pile of socks and chips. This would have been an entirely unremarkable occurrence, but Grimmauld Place contained no cats, and this one was a pure, ethereal silver.

There was no need to wonder where this cat, this patronus, had come from, or what it meant. Remus, Tonks, and Shacklebolt didn't even look at each other before abandoning their cards and surging to their feet. Senses already honed with adrenaline, Remus extracted his shoes and socks from the pot and leapt with unaccustomed nimbleness over a chair Tonks had overturned in her haste and not bothered to right.

He paused for only a moment in the living room to lean against a sofa and pull on his shoes and socks. Shacklebolt had already disappeared to the Ministry to gather the Aurors and Tonks was kneeling on the hearth with her head in a green fire, so Remus drew his wand and began sending patronuses to a memorized list of people.

"Let me do that," Remus volunteered a minute later when Tonks pulled her head out of the fire. "You need to get ready."

"That was Saint Mungo's," Tonks said in lieu of an agreement, as she got to her feet.

"This is Hestia Jones," Lupin replied, conjuring a final patronus before taking Tonks' place in front of the fire.

Doge, Vance, and Aberforth were contacted with minimal delay, and Remus was deep in conversation with a very anxious Molly Weasley when he felt Tonks' hand on his back. He reached blindly around and eventually found her knee, which he squeezed gently, hoping she'd understand that he couldn't leave the conversation he was already having. However, Molly seemed to notice his distraction and calmed down almost immediately, told him to get on with what he was supposed to be doing, and refused his offer to come by, saying she'd be at Grimmauld place a in a few minutes anyway.

Thanking her, Remus pulled his head out of the fire and turned to face Tonks. He blinked but did his best to control any other reaction when he saw that she'd changed into her heavy Death Eater robes. He hated seeing her wear those, it seemed like such an affront to her youth and beauty, a betrayal of everything she'd proved by joining the fight against people like her Aunt and Uncles, to put on the robes of her enemies, change her face, and pretend to be one of them, no matter how long or short the charade went on. Still, despite all that, the tiny sliver of himself that had remained a Marauder despite everything thought it was a laugh to see her charming face and spiky pink hair sitting atop a set of Death Eater's robes.

"I have to go," Tonks said unnecessarily.

"I know," Remus replied steadily.

"This could be it," Tonks added, making no move to leave. She seemed to be teetering on the verge of saying something else, but lacked the nerve or the words for it.

"Seems like it," Remus agreed.

Tonks leaned forward unexpectedly and planted her lips onto his. It wasn't a goodbye, more like good luck. They never said goodbye, no matter the danger of the situation one or both of them was about to walk into, a habit she'd gained during her time as an Auror and he'd developed through two open wars. Goodbyes were too final for situations like this and only served to create hopelessness. There were far better ways to express a farewell.

Far sooner than he would have liked, they pulled apart. Remus opened his eyes and found that he'd been kissing a woman who looked uncannily like Bellatrix Lestrange, a trick that Tonks had recently grown fond of playing that never failed to scare the hell out of him.

"Be careful," Remus said, shooting her the angriest look he could muster as she stood to go.

"Don't die," Tonks returned, her voice different but her inflection the same.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Remus shot back, returning to the fire. He heard Tonks Disapparate just before he plunged his head into the flame.

Five minutes later, Remus finished his last firecall and got unsteadily to his feet, his knees aching from their prolonged contact with the stone hearth. As he'd worked he'd been vaguely aware of people appearing in the room behind him but was still surprised by the shear number of them, milling around, waiting for instructions and looking worried but determined, organizing people into groups, uncovering the specially prepared portkeys they'd hidden, and double checking assignments.

Explaining the situation seemed unnecessary, word had already filtered around that the trouble was at Hogwarts, and that was all that could be known at the moment. Even Remus wouldn't know anything more until he got to the school.

So that's what he did. To do anything else would be a waste of time they didn't have, so Remus shouted to Mundungus to tell any stragglers to get to Hogwarts, promised Molly to do everything he could to protect her children, and joined one of the groups riding a Portkey to Hogwarts.

They arrived in the Entrance Hall and most of the group scattered almost immediately for their assigned positions. That Voldemort would take his fight to Hogwarts was one of their oldest suspicions and deepest fears and they'd held countless meetings planning and strategizing for this exact eventually. However, as Remus took his position with the rest of the defenders of the Entrance Hall, he couldn't help but notice how insufficient that all seemed. The conclusion they'd come to over and over again occurred to him now, no matter how many times he tried to banish it: Hogwarts was simply too big, they'd need an army two or three times the size of what they had to defend it properly. Even focusing their attention on the main entrance and secret passageways that Remus, and therefore Pettigrew, know about wouldn't be enough, because Hogwarts still had windows and, treated with unbreakable charms or not, if Voldemort found a way past the wards protecting the school then something like a window would be no trouble at all for him.

Abruptly, but too late to be surprised and too early to be happy, Remus noticed that Minerva had somehow learned of the danger early enough to get their defenses in place before the fighting began and suddenly the odds didn't seem quite so tall. He didn't have long to revel in his gratitude, for less than a minute later a black robed Death Eater stepped inside. Mad-Eye Moody aimed a spell at him from his place at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the rest of the school, but missed.

Remus had seen enough of these battles to know that Death Eaters were almost entirely predictable in their strategies: they entered any fight either ruthlessly or mockingly. Fortunately, these Death Eaters seemed to be looking for a bit of fun, which gave the defenders time to incapacitate as many as they could before their opponents turned angry.

Gradually, more defenders arrived to help: stragglers from the Order, late coming Aurors, and teachers who came rushing from their offices, but the Death Eaters received outside help as well, an unfortunate development, because the defenders were only just holding their own as it was. Out of the corner of his eye, Remus caught a glance of a spell that found Professor Flitwick. He fell heavily backwards onto the stairs. However, the most devastating development occurred a few minutes later.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Remus froze and looked round just in time to see a green bolt of light heading straight for him, but he wasn't the one it struck. It took a moment for him to realize that the spell had run its course, the battle had continued, and he was still alive to take part in it. Then someone slumped sideways into him. Remus caught her and lowered to the ground, wondering what Hestia Jones could possibly have done to deserve the end she'd been given. He returned to the fight with difficulty, aware that it had been his patronus that had summoned Hestia to the battle.

The Death Eater's strategy was far from mocking now. In fact, Remus could scarcely remember a time when he'd seen them more ruthless. However, they were not the only ones casting unforgivable curses now; most of the Aurors present were using the killing curse as well. Reluctantly, Remus wondered if he ought to join them in that, they were, after all, losing even more quickly now, but the unforgivables were something he'd always managed to avoid thus far in both wars and he'd been hoping to keep that policy if he could.

However, before Remus had quite made up his mind, the battle called itself to a close. Unexpectedly, Mad-Eye Moody stepped forward, took half-hazard aim at every Death Eater he could, and tried to put an end to nearly all of them before finally falling to the killing curse himself. As decisively as if they'd voted on the matter, those remaining took to the stairs and fled. As he went, Remus tripped over the still form of Professor Vector, who groaned at the impact. He hadn't seen her fall and had thought her dead, so Remus was relieved to find her alive and slung her over his shoulder before joining the others.

They picked their way up the crumbling steps, but there was no chance that they would be able to outrun or outfight the remaining Death Eaters, burdened as they were with wounded. Fortunately, Remus used to be a Marauder, and therefore knew Hogwarts better than most. The only trouble was, Pettigrew used to be a Marauder too, and Remus was quite certain he'd glimpsed him among the attacking Death Eaters. Still, there was the chance that Pettigrew wouldn't remember this particular passage, and, at the very worst, it was narrow enough to force the Death Eaters to attack one at a time.

Remus signaled the group to pause at an innocuous looking suit of armor a few hallways away. He lifted his wand and tapped its elbow and the suit of armor obligingly lifted one foot, revealing the entrance to a secret passageway.

"Pull it open and get inside," Remus ordered Minerva, the only one to lift her fallen charge with magic and therefore the only one two could bend over without much trouble.

Minerva obliged and they rushed into the passageway.

"How did-" Minerva asked.

"I'll explain later," Remus replied hurriedly. "This will lead us to the second floor."

"Second," Minerva breathed as she struck out down the passageway. "But the hospital wing's a floor above that."

"Best I can do," Remus replied, following her.

They made their way up a narrow and winding staircase. Its numerous and pointless switchbacks had always confused Remus in his school days and prompted the Marauders to avoid the passage unless they were in imminent danger of being thrown in detention. Now, weighted down with Professor Vector and in a tearing hurry, Remus would have cursed the passageway's designer, had he or she been available.

Finally, they reached the end of the passage, and Remus reached forward past Minerva to tap the trap door that would leave her out. The door slid open, illuminating their passageway. Minerva poked her head out, but promptly crouched down again. It took Remus a moment to learn why.

"Hey, I think I heard something!" said a hard voice from above. For a moment Remus thought they were going to be discovered, then he realized that he knew the voice.

They waited in silence for the footsteps to fade away, then Minerva straightened up again and they climbed into the hallway. Remus hurried to follow her, then rushed cautiously away to find where the source of the voice had gone. He reached a perpendicular hallway just in time to see a disguised Tonks running along behind a group of Death Eaters. She turned back, spotted him, raised a finger to her lips, and ran on.

"Nymphadora," Minerva whispered. Remus hadn't realized the Headmistress was there and didn't respond. He wasn't watching Tonks anymore either. He'd found it unexpectedly difficult to see her here in this battle, putting herself at such risk, and still finding ways to help them.

Minerva didn't press the matter, she simply walked away, making for the Hospital Wing, and Remus followed. It wasn't a long way to the Hospital Wing, but their progress was slow since they were continually forced to duck into classrooms and hidden passages to avoid roaming Death Eaters.

"Sanctuary," Minerva finally whispered when they reached the door to the Hospital Wing some fifteen minutes later. They slipped inside and lowered the wounded onto beds under Madam Pomphrey's supervision.

"How bad is it?" Pomphrey asked as she tended to Flitwick.

"Not good," Minerva replied euphemistically.

"I'm going to need help here," Pomphrey said.

"Where do you suppose we get it from," Minerva snapped with a harsh tone that Remus was sure could be attributed to nerves. "Even if we could get word to Saint Mungo's, the castle is completely sealed. Anyone they send wouldn't be able to get inside."

"Students, then," Pomphrey replied. "I've been working with Hannah Abbot; she wants to become a Healer and certainly knows her way around a healing charm."

"The students have been confined to their houses," Minerva pointed out.

"Then send someone to fetch her," Pomphrey suggested.

"Remus," Minerva said, pulling him from his own thoughts. "You seem to know this castle better than anyone."

"I'll find Hannah," Remus agreed immediately. He wasn't a fighter, he'd just learned how to get by, but he'd been a Marauder once, and if there was one thing that Marauders were good at, it was finding ways to sneak past their foes.

"You know the way to Hufflepuff house?" Minerva asked.

Remus nodded, James had happened upon it during their first year.

"The password is 'Fwooper,'" Minerva finished, and Remus left.

However, he'd barely made it down his first staircase when he turned a corner and found himself facing Severus Snape. Hardly even sparing a moment for thought, Remus lifted his wand, but was surprised when he saw that Snape had not. In fact, he seemed to be making no move for a wand at all. Remus hesitated, considering this development. He couldn't attack a defenseless man, even if that man was Severus Snape.

"You're a better man than me," Snape said, eying the wand that was pointed at him.

"Still, I've lost four friends and you've lost four enemies," Remus replied, taken aback by the spite in his own voice. "If this was a competition I'd say you were winning."

"Not all of them were my enemies," Snape said, and Remus was astonished to hear a hint of regret in his voice. He tried to formulate a retort, but too many questions flooded up at once and he simply stood there, gaping.

"Where is Potter?" Snape demanded after it became clear that Remus was not going to continue on his own.

"What's your interest in him?" Remus replied, questions forgotten. He tightened his grasp on his wand, curiosity forgotten and replaced with fear.

"I suppose you've noticed that he tends to behave recklessly in situations like this," Snape explained, and Remus found himself surprised again. "I intend to make sure that he lives long enough to encounter the Dark Lord."

The small bubble of hope that had been floating up in Remus' chest burst and fear and anger rushed in.

"I see. You want to present Harry to your master yourself."

"I want the Dark Lord to be defeated," Snape replied.

Remus watched him, mind working furiously. It sounded as though Snape knew that Harry was the only person who could defeat Voldemort, but there was only a very select group of people who knew about the prophecy. Surely Harry didn't trust Snape enough to tell him about it. Had Dumbledore? But why?

"Professor Dumbledore told you the prophecy," Snape said unexpectedly. Apparently he'd been thinking along the same lines as Remus.

"No, Harry did," Remus replied, lowering his wand.

"Ah," Snape replied.

"Harry won't listen to you," Remus said.

"I wasn't expecting him to," Snape said.

"Good luck to you," Remus replied, turning to go.

"Wait," Snape called, and when Remus turned back he thought he saw a look of curiosity cross Snape's face. "How do you know I'm not still loyal to the Dark Lord?"

"Because I've spoken with Harry and Nymphadora Tonks," Remus replied honestly. "Comparing their stories it seems that Draco Malfoy is a changed person, and that's after spending a year in hiding with you. I have also observed that Draco is not as adept at deception as you."

"I see," Snape said.

"Sorry I never tried to stop them," Remus said suddenly. The words were out before he even knew he wanted to say them. "James and Sirius, I mean."

Snape bristled, then sombered.

"There were several things I could have done to change the situation as well."

Remus had a sudden idea, and again he spoke without quite deciding to.

"Bigger things are going on right now, but, maybe, when this is over, we should talk."

"Very well," Snape replied as they parted ways. "Good luck to you."

Remus had meant to ask about Dumbledore and hadn't yet, but he'd left it until too late, and now they had no time. By the time Remus had decided to call Snape back anyway, he was already gone, so, still feeling a bit unsettled by the whole conversation, Remus carried on making his way to Hufflepuff house.

Remus Lupin thought himself a scholar, a delusion that had persisted through seven years as a Marauder, two wars, and still followed him now. It was a fool's notion he knew, scholars didn't fight wars, they studied them after they were over, they didn't become second in command of resistance movements, they locked themselves in libraries for days at a time and taught lectures no student could hope to understand and developed antisocial idiosyncrasies and never ever risked their lives traveling through war zones to pull students from the safety of their common rooms and drag them into that same war zone.

Remus had been a teacher once. He'd spent the best year of his adult life in front of a classroom, teaching his students how to ward off Boggarts and hinkypunks. Something about his current task went so deeply against the grain of that year, of the man he preferred to be, that it was almost nauseating. If this same battle had occurred four years ago, he never would have considered asking a student to assist in triage during a battle. He never even would have put the idea in her head. He would have found another way, assisted Madam Pomphrey himself if he had to.

But that was four years ago and this was now and as much as he liked to think of himself as a scholar, he was really a ready wand who'd seen battle before, the second in command of the Order of the Phoenix who knew the layout of Hogwarts better than McGonagall herself and had very little to lose. Strange as it was to think it, he was a soldier in nearly every sense of the word, and soldiers do what they're told, no matter what they think.

As Remus progressed closer to Hufflepuff House, he began to ponder just what he'd say to Hannah when he found her, interrupting his own thoughts from time to time whenever a Death Eater passed by, so he could pick the fights he could win and shelve his Gryffindor pride and run from the ones he couldn't.

Harry was hardly a typical student in situations such as this, but Remus found his thoughts drifting back to him for reference nevertheless. McGonagall might have sent him a warning, or she might have forgotten, she hadn't mentioned it and he hadn't asked, but, even if Harry had been in Hogsmeade when this started, there was no doubt in Remus' mind that Harry was in Hogwarts now with Ron and Hermione, doing his level best to put an end to this war. Remus also knew that Harry would be doing the exact same thing even if he'd never heard that prophecy, which an exhausted and defeated looking Harry had finally confessed to Remus that Christmas, when the weight of it had finally grown too much for him to bear, even with Ron and Hermione at his side.

Remus made a vow to find Harry and help him however he could once he'd finished escorting Hannah back to the Hospital Wing, but then he happened to glance down a side hallway and glimpse something that made his limbs freeze and his blood boil and banished both tasks from his mind: Fenrir Greyback had just passed by on a parallel hallway. He was far away but Remus knew there was no chance he could be mistaken, he'd never forget that prowl. Abruptly, Remus became immensely grateful that tonight was not a full moon: not only would he have been forced to stay away from the fight, but he was quite certain that Greyback would have entered the castle regardless, and the results would have been catastrophic.

Hannah would have to wait, neither as a scholar nor a soldier could Remus allow Greyback to wander these halls, and he turned the corner toward the other werewolf, intending to follow him at a safe distance until the odds were in his favor or something forced his hand. Both possibilities happened at almost exactly the same time.

Greyback put on a sudden burst of speed. Remus found out why a moment later when Greyback rushed forward into an intersection with another hallway that overlooked the level below on one side. Watching, Remus saw that he ran into something, something invisible but solid all the same. Remus looked closer and realized that the something was Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who'd had the misfortune to cross this way at the wrong moment. Remus was well aware that werewolves' senses of smell were quite adept, even in human form; Harry's invisibility cloak wasn't enough to help them.

Ron and Hermione scrambled immediately back under the cloak, but Harry did not. Instead, he faced the werewolf, wand drawn, fearless, and about to suffer the same fate as Bill. Remus was still too far away, he couldn't do anything to help. Then, though Remus was sure that Harry hadn't moved his wand, Greyback suddenly fell to the ground. Remus raced closer to see what had happened and nearly pulled up short in his surprise. He blinked, but the image was still the same: Peter Pettigrew had pinned Greyback to the ground.

"Harry! Hide!" Remus yelled as he finally reached the battle. He knew enough of Harry to suspect that he would do no such thing, but he chanced a glance long enough to see that the decision was taken out of his hands: Ron and Hermione had forced him under the cloak with them.

Greyback tossed Pettigrew away and stood up. He had no wand, but this fact did not inspire the same compassion in Remus as it had when he was facing Snape. Remus flicked his wand and a deep cut opened on Greyback's shoulder, but he paused in disgust as Greyback ran his hand over the wound then peered at the blood on his fingers with interest.

"So, Remus, this is how you repay me."

"I am not in your debt," Remus replied hotly, taking aim again, but then he looked down and saw that Pettigrew was slowly crawling toward Greyback's feet, an angry look in his eye. With some effort, Remus forced himself to look up before Greyback traced his gaze.

"You owe me your life; I made you who you are."

"You made me an outcast," Remus said truthfully, but also grateful that the truth was keeping Greyback's attention entirely on him. "I'm not about to thank you for it."

Greyback chuckled horribly.

"After all these years you have yet to realize that I made you stronger. I thought maybe you knew when you joined us two years ago, but you have proven that you are just as weak as any other wizard."

"I guess it's true what they say, then," Remus replied. "You can never trust a werewolf."

Greyback let out a cry of anger and rushed forward, wracking his long and sharp fingernails over Remus' neck and chest. He ripped the fabric of the robe and broke the skin, but then let out a cry of pain and dropped to the floor: Pettigrew had used his silver hand to crush the bone in Greyback's leg.

However, Greyback then turned the full force of his anger on Pettigrew and started scratching at him instead. He even took hold of Pettigrew's arm so he wouldn't be able to get away. Desperately, Pettigrew disappeared and Wormtail appeared, but that made matters, if anything, worse, for Greyback simply transferred his grip to the rat's tail and gave him a deep scratch down his entire spine. Wormtail squealed in pain, and there was only one thing Remus could think of to do.

Grimly, Remus flicked his wand, constricting Greyback's throat. Greyback released Wormtail almost immediately and fumbled desperately for the force that was cutting off his air, but Remus did not let up. He didn't release the spell until he was certain that Greyback was dead.

"Did he bite you?" Remus asked shakily. He was finding it very difficult to pocket his wand, and when he accomplished that, even harder to tear off a strip from his robes. When he finally managed it, he pressed the strip to his neck to try and staunch the worst of the bleeding. At last he looked up and found that Pettigrew had resumed his usual appearance.

"I think these are all scratches," Pettigrew replied, pulling back his sleeves to more closely inspect his arms.

"That's good," Lupin replied, and meant it.

"So," Pettigrew continued, "we can work together after all, Moony."

Remus blinked. No one had called him Moony since Sirius died, and he had been unprepared for how good it would feel to hear someone call him by his old school nickname again. It seemed like a betrayal, somehow, to even consider trusting the man who had led Voldemort to the Potters, but Pettigrew had just risked his skin to help both Remus and Harry in that fight. Furthermore, if he could settle his differences with Snape then surely he could do the same with Peter.

"I suppose so, Wormtail," Remus said finally, reaching down to pull Peter to his feet.

They simply stared at each other for a moment, and just as Remus was beginning to think that the moment had grown ripe for the both of them to burst out laughing, as though it had all been some grand cosmic joke, Pettigrew shoved him roughly away.

Unprepared for such an attack, Remus stumbled backward until he fell against the banister. He didn't manage to draw his wand until a moment later, but that was useless. Pettigrew didn't even lift his own wand; he simply used his silver hand as a shield, moving it to deflect everything Remus aimed at him. A few agonizing moments later, Pettigrew was standing right in front of him. He placed a hand on Remus' chest, smirked, and pitched him backwards over the banister. Remus didn't have enough time to find a way to save himself before he struck the hard granite floor of the level below.

Remus couldn't be sure how much time had passed when he was painfully jostled into consciousness. He coughed and tasted blood, and was more than a little surprised to find himself alive. He was lying on his back and his arms seemed alright, but his legs, those he couldn't even feel.

"Professor? Professor Lupin?"

Remus recognized the voice, but it took him a moment to place it.

"Harry?" Remus gasped. During his fights with Greyback and Pettigrew, he hadn't spared a thought to wonder whether Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left, he'd simply assumed that they'd moved on. "You shouldn't be here. You have to go. Everyone's counting on you."

"Everyone can wait," Harry replied.

Remus knew it would be pointless to argue, but he also knew that Harry couldn't linger there for long. Still, there were a few things that Remus thought he ought to say.

"Your father would be proud of you."

"Thanks," Harry stuttered. For the first time, Remus noticed that Ron was kneeling next to him as well, looking equally uncomfortable, but Hermione was some distance away. Remus had to squint to see her properly. From the looks of things, she was trying to keep her attention away from the rest of them. Furthermore, though it seemed like a self-centered observation, it looked to Remus as though something beyond his own impending death was upsetting her. Harry and Ron seemed oblivious, but the more Remus watched her, the more certain he became that something was very wrong.

"I can't count the number of times I have been amazed by the ingenuity of all three of you," Remus said, supposing he wouldn't get another chance to say it. Then, suddenly, a horrible idea came to him, and he knew he wouldn't get another chance to say it. "Together, there is nothing that can stop you."

Remus glanced again between Harry and Ron and saw their determination to stay with him until the end, but their determination would lose them the battle and Remus' life wasn't worth that. He hated it, Harry trusted Remus implicitly, and he was about to betray that, but his mind was made up. He took three deep breaths, and hardly had to act to make them look agonizing.

"Help her!" he rasped, grabbing Harry's shoulder and Ron's forearm but looking at Hermione, then he let out half a breath, dropped his arms, and let his eyes unfocus.

"Wait!" Harry cried, shaking Remus' shoulder painfully. It was all he could do to force himself not to react. "Come back! Help who?"

Remus nearly gave up the ruse right then. They didn't know he'd meant Hermione, but he'd never been as sure of anything as he was that she needed her two best friends.

"There's a group of Death Eaters coming," Hermione interrupted, effectively ruining any ideas Remus might have had about resurrecting himself, but still Harry did not leave. In fact, he began shaking Remus still more vigorously.

"It's no use, mate, he's gone," Ron interrupted, and Remus was surprised to find that his voice sounded thick and shaky. "We've got to go."

"We can't just leave him here," Harry sobbed, and Remus felt his resolve falter once again.

"We don't have a choice," Hermione said, and finally Harry and Ron stood and left.

They were hardly a moment too soon. The three of them had barely left Remus' side before the Death Eaters were upon him. Fortunately, they, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, found his ruse convincing, and they continued on after a few rough kicks to his already broken ribs.

Remus held his breath for as long as he could, knowing that the Death Eaters could come back any moment, but soon he simply couldn't hold it any longer. He allowed himself to exhale and caught half a breath before a coughing fit overtook him. He was sure that every Death Eater in the area would hear him and come running, but he couldn't stop, it felt like he was coughing up at least as much blood as he was air. Finally, the fit subsided and Remus was amazed and relieved to discover that he hadn't attracted the attention of any Death Eaters, at least none that he could see.

Remus was no stranger to helplessness, being reliant on a potion he lacked the skill to brew himself to keep from turning into a monster once a month tended to do that to him, but at least those situations could only last a week and held the familiarity that came with repetition. So far as Remus could figure, this predicament could only end one way.

Remus sighed and reached out around himself a little, hoping he'd be able to find his wand, but his hand connected with something else first, which, though he couldn't lift his head to see it, he concluded must be his own foot, though it might as well have been someone else's, he couldn't feel his hand on the appendage and it was twisted up in entirely the wrong direction. He sighed again, bringing up a bit more blood this time, wishing he could have broken his back in a place with a more interesting ceiling.

Remus wasn't sure how long he laid there for, he might have drifted off to sleep or the seconds might have started melting into one another, but in either case the next thing he became aware of was light footsteps nearby, which ran up to him before he had time to pretend to be dead. A dark haired woman in Death Eater robes appeared next to him. He tried to squirm away but the effort made him woozy, he must have lost more blood than he thought, but then he blinked and the Death Eater became Tonks. He blinked again, not quite sure what he'd just seen.

"You're okay, you're okay," she whispered in a voice that was probably supposed to be soothing. "I'm here, I've got you, just hold on, you're okay."

Remus could dimly see that she was running her wand over him, and occasionally he'd feel a slight tickle of magic, but each time she only seemed to grow more frustrated and repeated her mantra a bit louder.

"Tonks," Remus said, grabbing for her wrist and missing the fifth time this happened. His tongue felt slow and stupid.

"It's okay, I'm here," she said, taking his hand. "I just need to get you back to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomphrey will fix you up in no time." But it was obvious that she didn't believe it any more than he did.

"Tonks."

"I'll just need some help to get you there..."

"Tonks."

"...maybe I could trick a few Death Eaters."

"Nymphadora."

"Don't call me that," she snapped habitually.

"You weren't answering to the other one," Remus pointed out. "You can't save me. Just go and help Harry-"

He'd meant to continue that thought, but now that he'd brought up Harry he couldn't let it go so easily.

"I'm not going to give up on you," Tonks was babbling.

"I tricked Harry," Remus interrupted dismally. "He trusted me, enough to tell me about the prophecy, he hadn't even told Arthur and Molly, and I tricked him."

"How so?" Tonks asked, finally listening to him.

"I made him think I'd died," Lupin explained heavily, "so he'd leave me here and do what he needed to do."

"I guess he'll be a happy guy when he finds you alive later," Tonks said.

"We both know that's not going to happen," Remus replied.

"Don't say that," Tonks said shakily, leaning forward.

"Don't!" Remus yelped, catching her shoulder and forcing her backward with as much strength as he could muster. "You can't get my blood in your mouth."

"I don't care," Tonks cried.

"I do," Remus replied. "I won't have you making a legacy of yourself by carrying on my curse."

"It's not fair," Tonks cried, her tears falling onto his face, which she wiped off gently with her sleeve.

"Who said anything about fair," Remus said. "I tricked Harry; I never would have tried it with James. It was very Slytherin of me."

"This war will make Slytherins of all of us," Tonks said with a faraway look.

"To know thy enemy..." Remus agreed.

He'd expected Tonks to complete the cliché, but she didn't seem to know the rest of it and the trailing sentence must have made her nervous because she blurted, "Say hi to Sirius for me."

"Will do," Remus replied. "Don't miss me for too long, alright? You deserve to find someone else."

"I'll always miss you," Tonks said, "but I'll have the moon to remember you by."

"Not the moon," Remus groaned. "Anything but the moon."

"Oh, alright," Tonks quipped playfully. "I suppose there's always that bonsai tree you killed. What did you name it? Joey?"

"Alright, not anything," Remus said. "And leave Joey out of it."

Time lost all meaning as they stayed there, trading jokes and stories, Tonks stroking Remus' hair until he fell into a sleep he'd never wake up from.