Always There

ALWAYS THERE

Chapter One: From the Beginning

1978- three years before Harry's parents died, two years before he was born.

Not even an entire day after the full moon, Remus Lupin was back on his feet despite evident fatigue. Sirius, his flatmate, had expressed great concern about Remus being up and about so soon, but Remus, having always been a glutton for punishment, had scheduled a job interview for that morning and had to get ready. Currently, he was attempting to make coffee while fending of his worried and upset friend.

"...But Remus! You're still not well! Look at yourself- you're exhausted, white as Nearly Headless Nick, and swaying!" Sirius insisted for the eighth time that hour.

"Sirius, this may end up being my only shot at employment until next Christmas or perhaps even Easter. I really need to go to this interview."

"You don't need a job. You know that James and I would give you money any old time! And what..." Sirius's voice trailed off at the offended expression on his friend'sface. "I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"It's just that I'm a werewolf, and you pity me, and so you'll lend me money," Remus grumbled. It was at times like this when he wished he were more like most people. Actually, he constantly wished that but it was when Sirius was exceptionally annoying that he wished it with all his being.

"No, that's not it! We care about you, and we'll lend you money if you need it, and-"

"You've told me all this before, Padfoot. I need to be able to take care of myself. Leave me be."

"It's all still true! Remus there is no need for you to have to take care of yourself financially! We'll always be here! And anyway a job is a waste of time, and it's boring, and-"

"Drop it."

"But-"

"I said 'Drop it,'" Remus snapped, getting annoyed.

Staring back hopelessly as Remus gave him a vicious glare, Sirius quietly gave up, and slipped back into his room when Remus marched out the door. 'Remus doesn't know his own limits, and someone has to look out for him. I'm not doing this to annoy him, just to help him through everything that he has to put up with. Why am I always on the receiving end of his temper when Remus is irritated?'

scene change

Remus apparated on the street near the building where he had been told to meet the man who would interview him. Everything in the town where Remus may soon be working- until someone figured out that a werewolf was among them- was gray, dull, and uninviting. Not to mention it was raining here, unlike it had been back outside the apartment several kilometers away. Remus pulled his patched and fraying cloak closer around himself and threw the hood above his head. Strolling up to the building, he tried to figure out what to expect. He hadn't told Sirius, but he had no idea what the job was. He was so desperate for a job right now that he was accepting job interviews from shady, mysterious characters. This was dangerous, he knew, but sometimes you had to do things like that. Especially when you constantly need to "borrow" money from your friends that both they and you know you'll never be able to repay. Sirius had paid the rent for the past five months now, even though when they moved in they promised to split the cost evenly. It was definitely time for Remus to get a job.

Stepping into the building, he found that it was little better inside than it was out. The yellow peeling wallpaper should have been replaced years ago, as should have been the carpet with holes in it straight through to the wood beneath. Perhaps the whole building should have simply been knocked down since the roof had leaks in it, and there were water stains all across the ceiling and down the walls. Remus stepped up to the secretary's cracked and stained desk which was the only piece of furniture in the room unless you counted the broken and wobbly chair the older woman was hunched over in.

He stood in front of the desk for several minutes looking at her perfect hair and the flawless handwriting scrawled across page after page before clearing his throat in attempt to get her to notice him. The brunette's head snapped up at the noise. "Ah... so you're Remus Lupin?" she said after flipping through a pile of papers to her left.

"Yes."

Her gray eyes scanned him from his dripping hair past the holes in his robes to his peeling to pieces and cramped shoes. 'I probably match this place perfectly,' Remus thought bitterly. 'Falling apart at the seams, but still trying to operate.'

She glanced at her watch that could easily be as old as she was. "You're an entire minute late."

"Actually I've been standing here waiting for you to finish whatever it is that you've been working on for the past two minutes." 'Fight fire with fire, or in this case fussiness with fussiness.'

She sniffed disapprovingly, but finally waved him through the single black door behind her.

Remus proceeded through the heavy door into a pitch-black room. The place smelled musty and old. This office was most likely not much of an improvement over the room he had just left. A voice spoke before his keen eyes could adjust enough to see the line of light under the door, never mind being able to see the man himself. "Ah...Lupin. I was wrong when I thought you wouldn't show. So you want a job?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Then I'll need to hear just a little about what you know about defeating dark creatures. Alright?"

"Yes, Sir." 'This should be easy, I was the best in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class by the time I graduated three years ago.'

"Good. Now, Lupin what's the most painful way to kill a vampire?"

"Expose them to sunlight, especially early in the morning. They burn up over a period of an hour, and it's far more painful than anything a human being could ever experience naturally." 'Am I going to be killing vampires and other dark creatures -like werewolves- as painfully as possible? I really hope not.' He was now able to see the vague outline of an extremely large man sitting in a chair that, while large, was still not enough to match his size. Was it the same man who had offered him this job? He was certainly the right size. How many men were there that were nearly two and a half meters tall, and nearly half as wide that didn't smell as though they have giant blood in them?

"Hmm...yes, that's correct. Why are mandrakes dangerous?"

"Because their cries are lethal." 'Duh, that's easy. But maybe that means I'm going to be harvesting mandrakes, which isn't nearly as bad as the alternative. I could live with harvesting mandrakes.' With these comforting thoughts in mind Remus began to relax again.

"Precisely...very well one more question, Lupin, and I'll see about hiring you. How do you go about killing a werewolf?" The interviewer sat back smugly, this was the question that would decide if he hired Lupin; all the others had just been warm-ups, and nearly irrelevant to whether he'd get the job.

Remus's heart stopped and his body went cold at this question. 'Please,' he prayed, 'let this have NOTHING at all to do with the job' "A werewolf in wolf form can only be killed by silver, preferably in the shape of a muggle bullet or a long knife. Or you can wait until he is human again and kill him like you would anyone else." By the end of his first sentence, Remus had been hearing rustling from the same corner as the figure that he could still not see very well.

"Good, good. I think we can take you on. Did I remember to tell you what I was interviewing you for?" The interviewer knew that he hadn't told Remus, but Remus hardly would have take on the job if he told him all about the dangers of this particular occupation.

"No, Sir."

"Well then," he replied opening the heavy door as though it were as light as a feather, "welcome to the Third National British Team of Werewolf Slayers, Lupin." Seeing Remus's hesitation to shake on it he added, "Is there a problem with that?" It was evident he wanted to hire the poor youth. The young man seemed to really need a job, and he needed a partner ever since his last one was killed in action. You needed a partner for this kind of thing for one main reason: you had a better chance of surviving if someone was watching you're back, and if the bloody monster did get you, your partner wouldn't let the beast get away with it.

"I just don't like killing that's all. Werewolves just look so human sometimes it's just..." Remus said smoothly, as though it were merely a minor concern.

"I know what you mean, but you get used to it quite quickly," the big man said, really hoping he wasn't going to lose a potential partner.

"I'm not sure I want to get used to murdering."

"Hmmm. Well, if it helps you any not one of my many former partners has ever killed an innocent before, during, or after their service here." He didn't mention that only one out of his seven partners in the past two years lived to see an after.

"I'll think on it."

"Owl me in a week either way." But he really hoped it wasn't a negative answer.

"Thank you sir, I will." And Remus practically ran out the door, trying to get away from the evil man who'd kill him without batting an eyelash. He was probably used to it now, anyway, just like he'd said.

In precisely a week the werewolf slayer would receive the disappointing letter which explained in very polite terms why Remus preferred not to be out killing creatures that looked so much like humans so early in his life, but thank you ever so much for kindly offering the job. The man would go out to slaughter innocent werewolves three weeks after, and would be killed by his pray without back up. No one would notice, but the werewolf who had done him in would feel great remorse, even when he realized it was his life or this man's. The secretary would go find a decent job where her brisk and impatient manner would be highly appreciated and she would be quickly promoted. Remus, evidently, would never hear any of this, and would still sometimes have nightmares of the man who killed werewolves for a living. It wasn't even for a really great living; he was obviously in it for "the safety of the people." Remus had seen, and would see, many such people during his lifetime, and would both hate and pity all of them.

scene change

When Remus returned, Sirius was waiting for him with lunch ready on the table and greeted him with "Finally!" and then began to wolf down food as though he hadn't eaten yet this month. Bits and pieces of what he was eating fell about on occasions and usually landed in Sirius's lap. Remus didn't worry about this particular mess. Padfoot would take care of it when Sirius was done. Remus settled into the seat near the plate that had been set out for him and began to eat. Years ago, he had learned not to let Sirius's eating habits force him to lose his own appetite. Sirius stopped eating only once half way through the meal to ask Remus if he had gotten the job. "I had to turn down the offer, Padfoot," Remus sighed. Sirius shrugged and continued eating. Remus was grateful Sirius hadn't pushed him into saying why he needed to turn down the job.

Shortly after lunch, Remus was lying on the couch, sneezing and coughing. Because of this, Sirius saw the need to lecture him. "I told you not to get up. And then you go out- here's another box of tissues since that one's nearly done- into the rain. Why did you turn down the job anyway?"

"Because I didn't like the boss," Remus muttered the excuse he had thought up during the meal.

"Who likes their boss? I hate mine, Peter constantly complains about his, and James, nice guy that he is, plots to murder his in his sleep... on good days. Bosses aren't supposed to be kind, caring people."

"I know, but he was especially mean," Remus sneezed at Sirius.

"How?"

"He just was."

"How? First you want a job so badly, and then suddenly you're throwing it away for no good reason? I don't understand you, Moony."

"Leave it be."

"No, absolutely not. Please tell me, Mister Mysterious," Sirius taunted in a light joking tone.

"Leave it be."

"Listen to yourself; 'Drop it!' 'Leave it be!' Man, Remmie, you are more emotional than all of my past girlfriends put together."

"Quiet you."

"'Quiet you!'" Sirius mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

"Alright, I get your point. I'm feeling a little down, and it comes out in a snap. I'm sorry, Padfoot."

"It's alright, I'm just teasing you." Sirius sank down onto the couch next to his friend. The two sat that way for a while, with Remus quite miserable from his cold, but otherwise both were comfortable.

"Whatever happened to all those past girlfriends anyway?"

"They liked me for my looks, not for my intellect, so I dumped them."

Remus chuckled, "Sirius, you don't own any brains. Any woman who likes you in the least is attracted to your stunning physical features, because there is nothing else to be attracted to."

"Hey!"

"It's true."

Sirius was silent for a moment, "I do too own brains... I just don't chose to use them on dates."

Remus simply chuckled in reply. A comfortable silence enveloped the two.

Suddenly, Remus's body convulsed violently. Sirius, having seen this before on days when Remus was ill immediately after a full moon, quickly scooped the feverish Remus into his arms, and picked up the garbage can on the way past the kitchen incase they didn't make it all the way to bathroom.

Entering the bathroom, Sirius pulled up the plastic stool from behind the door and sat Remus on his lap, waiting for the inevitable. When Remus hung his head over the toilet to be sick, Sirius held his head for him. They stayed that way for a while, Remus seeing his lunch a second time and Sirius holding Remus's hair back for him.

When Remus was done greeting his half-digested meal he settled back against Sirius, and they hugged each other the way friends do when one is hurting and the second hurts because the first one is in pain. They stayed like that all day, until Remus was just well enough to be moved to bed. Sirius was by his bedside all night, ignoring the fact that the wooden chair was much less comfortable then his own warm bed in the next room. Around midnight Remus, without actually waking up, opened his eyes to see Sirius sleeping lightly, all cramped in the tiny chair. He smiled in his state of half-sleep. From the beginning Sirius had been with him. Through his lycanthrophy, through losing job after job, and now through a simple yet bothersome cold. He knew he could count on Sirius always being there for him. It was a warm feeling the most werewolves hardly get to experience, and that would end for Remus in a short few years.

To Be Continued!