Before They Were Angels

Chapter 6-Taken

"Who has not hoped

To outrage an enemy's dignity?

Who has not been swept

By the wish to hurt?

And who has not thought that the impersonal world

Deserves no better than to be destroyed

By one fabulous sign of his displeasure?"

- J. Bronowski, The Face of Violence

"How did they become friends?" Tonks asked suddenly, after sitting quietly for longer than she preferred. She was staying with the Potters for the weekend, working with Harry's wife on some project (they worked in the same company.)

Harry pretended not to hear her. He was reading in the Daily Prophet how they were introducing some new Quidditch rules.

"I know you heard me!" she yelled, feigning anger.

Harry put down the Daily Prophet, frowning slightly at her over his glasses. "How did who become friends?"

"The three boys and Remus, of course!" sighed Tonks exasperatedly, as if this was the most natural question asked during the middle of the day.

"Ah," smiled Harry. Though Tonks was several years older than he, he often found himself thinking she was years under him. "That will take awhile to explain..."

"Tell it!" shouted Baby James, peeping his face out from under the coffee table he'd been play-camping with.

Harry folded up his newspaper resignedly. He would have to save the rest for tomorrow.

"Well, let me see," he began. "Several months went by without change. Sirius didn't receive any more threatening letters about his father, (though the rest of that story is coming up later,) and Riddle was still harassing Peter. Remus was still getting sick every once in a while, and Lily was still isolated from her friends, and, for a while, it just seemed like nothing would change...."

~*~*~

It happened one hot, lazy Saturday afternoon. You know the kind, when it seems like the whole world has gone to sleep. There were no clouds in the sky, no wind to rustle the trees. Students lolled sleepily around the Hogwarts grounds, most laying on the ground. Some tried to start up a game, but the attempt was quickly forgotten. Under a certain beech tree by the lake, two students in particular were feeling the effects of the day.

"This is boring!" yawned Sirius. "Why's everybody just lying around like that? Don't they have anything better to do?"

"Do we have anything better to do?" retorted James.

"Oh, I guess you're right. Hey, when's Peter get out of detention, anyway?"

James looked towards the other side of the lawn, where Peter was helping a young Madam Sprout plant Clearbells (a flowery plant used to clear foggy minds,) in small pots.

"In just a few hours, I guess." Peter had reason for being in detention this time; in their last Herbology class with the Hufflepuffs he had knocked over a rare and valuable plant from Guam in the process of reaching for more dragon fertilizer.

James's eyes then wandered to another corner of the grounds, where Remus and Lily sat together in a small alcove covered in vines. Remus seemed strangely happy today, although he wasn't smiling, of course. There was more color in his cheeks, however, and his eyes shone as he watched Lily's every movement.

Disgusting, thought James. He nearly gagged as he saw Lily give him a radiant smile when he stuck a flower in her hair. She doesn't like you, you sad excuse for a Gryffindor, and she never will. And yet... He studied their features. Lily was one of the tallest girls in the year. Remus, though, was on the small side, and both seemed very thin and fine boned. Under the shaded alcove, with the shadows on their faces, they seemed surreal. Like two of the fairy people, he thought, then shook himself. He must be getting drowsy in the sun. Indeed, he felt he might drop off to sleep any second. Sirius's voice called him back to reality.

"Hallo, what's Riddle doing, talking to Sprout?" James looked up to see the young and handsome Defense teacher smiling his most engaging smile at the Herbology professor. Peter seemed to be almost shrinking in fear behind the rather large woman, who was scratching her head and looking quizzically at Riddle. Then she gave a half-shrug, and dragged Peter out from behind her. Riddle grabbed his wrist firmly and led him around the side of the building. At the same time, James looked over to see Remus stand up, looking angry, and begin marching off after them. Lily started to follow, but he pushed her gently back down, where she sat looking confused. He jogged to where the greenhouses were and grabbed a shovel before heading off around the building.

"Now where's he going?" frowned James.

~*~*~

For the first time since Riddle had begun to give him detentions, Peter struggled with the man. They were still outside, but where no one was around. Peter was grabbing at his arm where he held him tightly.

"Let me go!" he shouted, "Let me go, I don't want to go with you, you're not going to hurt me any more!" Without addressing him, Riddle took out his wand and hissed a strange incantation. Peter's mouth and throat suddenly felt as if glue had been dropped down them. Moreover, he could not utter a sound. He still struggled with the teacher until they came to a side door, where at this time he began to kick and punch violently with all his strength. "Stop," whispered Riddle, not daring to talk too loud, "or I'll keep you under the curse so long you'll vomit blood." This only caused Peter to thrash more violently than before.

"What curse?" asked a soft voice behind them. Riddle whirled around, still clutching Peter although he had stopped with the sound of the voice. Remus Lupin stood there; feet spread apart and shovel in front of him like a shield, his eyebrows knitted in a straight line across his forehead.

"Get away," hissed Riddle through his teeth. "This isn't your concern."

Remus didn't flinch. "Let him go."

Suddenly, Riddle laughed a high, cruel laugh very much unlike his normal voice, making Peter jump. Remus's mouth twitched and his eyes widened, ever so slightly...

"Poor simpleton," said Riddle, "trying to act grown-up. You seem so brave, but are you?" He leaned forward, seeming to search Remus's face. For the first time all year, Peter saw Remus tremble with fear and blanche. Why, thought Peter, He's just as scared as I am, only he can hide it better!

Riddle confirmed this. "No," he said, "of course you aren't. You're afraid. You're always afraid. You're afraid right now, aren't you, Remus?"

Remus face turned a shade of green when he heard his name on the man's lips. He looked as if he might be sick. "I'll- I'll tell-" he began weakly.

"You know what I could do," he crooned, like he was talking to a small child. "You know what I could tell. Because I know, Remus. And believe me, not every teacher knows. Some, if they knew, would run you out of this school with pitchforks." Peter looked from Riddle to Lupin, studying each one. What was this they were speaking of?

"You wouldn't want that, would you, Remus? So why don't you just leave us alone now, and we won't speak of this again, hmm? What do you say?" Riddle's soothing voice never reached his eyes, which glared at him coldly. Remus paused a second, then seemed to open his mouth to say something. He closed it, and stepped back, an almost bewildered look in his face. "There, that's better," smiled Riddle. Remus slowly drew the shovel back, putting it on his shoulder and half-turning to go. Then he whirled around and smashed the shovel point-blank onto Riddle's head. Riddle crumpled, and let go of Peter. Peter stared down at the man, blood pooling around his head. He looked to Remus, who stood panting and clutching his stomach, as if it hurt him.

"Is he-?" whispered Peter.

"I don't know," answered Remus, whispering as well. "I didn't hit him as hard as I could have..." Although that was the hardest hit Peter had ever seen an 11-year-old do, he didn't doubt Remus's words.

Remus glanced at the shovel, and visually grimaced. Blood and hair clung to it. He held it up to his face, and was about to wipe it off, when at this moment four sixth-years in mixed houses chose this time to turn a corner and see them. Their conversation stopped, and they stared silently, first at the teacher on the ground, then at the first year holding a bloody shovel.

"Oh... my... God," cried a Hufflepuff girl, breaking the silence.

"Get him!" shouted a Gryffindor. Remus dropped the shovel and ran, the fear on his face replaced by determination. He ran faster than any human Peter had ever seen. The sixth-years were halfway across the grounds before any of them remembered their wands, and by then, Remus was inside the Forbidden Forest. The sixth-years stopped at the edge.

"Shouldn't someone go after him?" asked the nervous Hufflepuff.

"Never mind him," said a sullen-faced Ravenclaw prefect. "The forest will kill him by nightfall."

~*~*~

Lily was frantic. Everywhere she looked, people were talking about Remus, shaking their heads and saying that he had finally "snapped." James and Sirius were the worst of all. Peter, it seems, had been taken up to Dumbledore's office for a private conference. Although it was dusk, and people were beginning to amble inside, she stood by herself on the edge of the Forest. She wanted to go in. She wanted to find him. But she was scared, too.

"What're you doing, Evans?" sneered a voice. "Thinking about looking for your boyfriend?"

"Go away, James," sighed Lily, turning around to see Sirius and James standing there.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Scared?" Lily stared at him. She had never seen such a malevolent expression on his face.

"No, I'm not scared," she snapped.

"Prove it," he challenged. "Go in."

"Fine, I will," she stated, and took a couple of steps deeper into the woods.

"James, maybe we shouldn't..." began Sirius.

Lily turned around. She was about ten meters away from them. "There," she said. "I'm in the woods. Are you happy now? And look, nothing..." The words died on her lips, for at that second, the wildest man she had ever seen jumped out of the bushes. He had braided hair down to his waist, dark eyes, and bad teeth. All this she noticed in the millisecond before he grabbed her around her middle and picked her up and ran with her, hand over her mouth, into the woods, leaving two dumbfounded boys staring after them.

~*~*~

"And now," said Harry, "I'm finishing my newspaper."

Tonks, who had been enraptured up to this point, gaped at him. "But... you can't stop the story there!"

Harry grinned. "I can and I am."

"Fine." She snapped, and, grabbing a protesting Baby James, went off to look for Harry's wife.