Need and Want

The mission was not supposed to have lasted this long. A quick in and out, pick up some supplies, get the latest spy reports - two weeks tops he'd been promised. But no, things never went the way they were supposed to. What was the old adage? "A plan never lasts past the first contact with the enemy." Well this plan hadn't even needed to contact the enemy to go bad.

Remus had been in Romania almost three weeks now and he still hadn't managed to get in touch with his main contact; he couldn't leave yet. This was going to be a problem. Looking up at the nearly full moon he knew it was time to get help.

***

The camp was locked down tight; watch set all the time, even in brightest daylight, and ID checks to enter or leave the compound. The researchers knew Voldemort wanted to get at the power contained in the mighty beasts kept here and they were determined not to let him.

The man who stopped Remus went over all of his documentation and must have noticed Dumbledore's oh-so-clever-and-discreet marker in the corner of his passport because he let Remus into the second room while he checked on it.

Remus settled into one of the seats and looked around at the space. No windows because they didn't want enemies getting any information if their documents were good enough to get them this far and no papers or books because if you got this far you were important enough to be checked on fast.

And indeed, within minutes he heard voices through the door.

"He's in here."

"And he's got the seal you say?"

"Yep."

"Say what he needs here?"

"Help he said, but nothing more."

"Ok." And the door swung open.

Remus stared. The man in the doorway was tall and tanned, bright freckles managing to come through the sun-browned skin. His long frame comfortably (and sensibly) attired in heavy Muggle jeans and a leather jacket. And capping the ensemble was a shock of bright red hair, long enough to fall across the man's forehead but not get in his way.

"A Weasley, here?" The words had slipped out before his mind had caught up.

"Herr Wulf?" the red head asked.

"Eh, oh. Ah, ja." Remus forcibly reminded himself of his mission and the name he was traveling under.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Our friend The Bee sent you?" he asked, looking incredulous.

"Well, not exactly." When the man's eyes narrowed Remus continued quickly. "I'm working for The Bee, but that's not why I'm here. My job ran over time and I needed a safe place to stay for a few days before I finished it. I knew that you all were out here and, well, if anyone would have the facilities to help me it would be the Dragon Research Compound."

"So, you know 'bout the DRC, not only where we are but enough to know we can help you?" The red head still sounded suspicious. "And on top of that you know I'm a Weasley."

Remus couldn't help smiling at that. "It would be hard not to be able to tell that, knowing any of your relatives." Remus sighed. "We're not going to get very far as long as you don't trust me. How safe is this room?"

The Weasley's eyes widened fractionally. "As safe as we can make it. We trust all of our people and we sweep the entire compound for bugs, magical and Muggle, every day."

"Alright, come in and sit down."

The red head closed the door to the room and moved closer to where Remus was sitting, but pointedly remained standing. "Go on."

"My name is Remus Lupin, I work for the Bee's intelligence gathering arm. I was sent to Romania to get some information on the enemies' activities, how close they were coming to finding you and what they were doing. To do that job I had to know where you were."

"Well, your story matches up with what we already knew," the other man allowed. "But why are you here. Your presence as an intelligence man could be compromised."

"I thought you said the DRC trusted its people?"

"We do, but that doesn't mean we take unnecessary chances."

"This is not unnecessary. Do you know Ron Weasley?" When the red head nodded Remus continued. "I taught him Defense Against the Dark Arts during his third year at Hogwarts…" he trailed off.

"Oh," the man said. "I heard about . . . I begin to see the problem. You hadn't expected to still be in the field during this time of the month?"

"No," Remus agreed. "I need the loan of a safe place to be during the full moon. Something strong, lockable. Something I can't get out of when I change. And I would appreciate it if a minimum number of people knew I was here, and why."

"Of course," the red head nodded. "I think we have something that will suit your needs. Here, come with me." And he headed towards the door.

"Excuse me," Remus said. "I know you're a relative of Ron's but can I get a name?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I forgot I hadn't introduced myself." The red head smiled and the bright white teeth shining between dark lips took Remus' breath away. "I'm Charlie, Ron's older brother. I'm the admin contact at the Compound." And opening the door Charlie said something quietly to the guard at the door before turning back to Remus. "Well, coming?"

"Yes. Thank you, Charlie." The two headed out into the Compound.

***

Remus paced the cage, lost in thought. Counting out his steps his mind followed his feet in circles.

Ten steps along the first wall.

Eight to the next.

Ten steps back.

Eight steps back to his starting point.

Ten steps. Remus paid no attention to where he was going, didn't notice the way in which his pacing had become prowling; wrapped up in his thoughts he paid no attention to his own body language.

Eight steps.

On the seventh step Remus faltered, stopped, stood still.

And then the pain ripped away any chance for thought.

***

Slowly, the light rasp of a wet cloth being dragged across his torn skin pulled Remus back to consciousness. He felt a gentle touch trailing along his arm and could sense when the careful fingers lingered over the scar that marked his curse.

Allowing his eyes to flutter open he finally saw the one who was taking care of him.

There, hovering above him and scowling lightly in a concentrated effort to be gentle, was Charlie Weasley, a light furrow creasing his brow and his fiery red hair dropping into his eyes.

He watched the careful hand holding the wet cloth raise up and move to another rip in his skin and couldn't manage to contain his instinctive wince as the fabric touched him, even though Charlie was being careful enough that it didn't hurt.

Looking up he met Charlie's eyes as the other man became aware that his patient had awoken.

"Hello," Charlie said, quietly, as though afraid that his voice, too, could cause pain to the man before him.

"Good morning." Remus' voice was raspy from the damage he'd caused howling and screaming last night.

"Here." Charlie took the cloth away and reached across Remus to the table next to the bed. There was a glass of water sitting there, which he held for Remus to drink out of.

"Thank you," Remus said. "Thank you for . . . for everything."

"Of course," there was a faint blush tinting Charlie's cheeks as he ducked his head, implying he'd done nothing extraordinary. "Any one would have . . . "

"No," Remus was tired and so he excused the bitter tone that had entered his voice. "There are many who would have turned me away when they knew what I was."

"I'd never . . . " and Charlie looked up, their eyes meeting. "I mean . . ."

"I know." Remus turned his head, breaking their eye contact. His eyes, so blue. So beautiful. Untainted. Not like me. "You're a true Weasley, Charlie," Remus finally said, lifting the silence that had fallen between them. "Your family has always been known for its hospitality."

"No . . . well, yes, but that's . . . that's not why I . . ." Charlie reached down and rested his fingertips on Remus' jaw, lifting slightly to get the other man to meet his eyes. "That's not why I'm here, not why I wanted to help."

"Then why?" Remus' voice caught.

"Because you needed me."

"Of course," the werewolf tried to pull back, turn away from the brightness that was Charlie's eyes.

"No," Charlie pulled back, holding him still. "You still need me Remus." And the red head leaned down and kissed Remus lightly.

At first Remus was too startled to react, but within seconds of intimate contact the beast within which had so recently been reshackled by the setting of the moon surged forward. Remus' arms reached up and wrapped around the beautiful man above him and he let out a moan as his mouth slid open, wanting more.

Charlie deepened the kiss as his hands began to wander along the other man's chest, finding out and investigating all the wounds he had so carefully cleaned and slowly driving Remus mad with desire.

"Oh, please, Charlie," he gasped out, tugging at fabric and seriously thinking of just ripping the shirt off of the red head.

Charlie sat up and yanked the shirt over his head, tossing it behind him and returning again to his explorations of the other's mouth with his own. The nimble, caring hands slid down Remus' sides, grazing over an unnoticed cut and causing Remus to hiss in pain.

"Oh!" Charlie pulled back, concerned, but Remus used the opportunity to shove forward and latched onto the other man's neck.

"Doesn't. Matter. At. All," he said in between kisses and gentle sucks. "But. If you. Stop. It will. Matter." He twisted at the waist and began to press the willing younger man down to the mattress and trail kisses down the exposed chest.

Slowly he moved lower and lower, pausing to worship and take little proprietary bites. Struggling with the clasp of Charlie's jeans, Remus almost didn't even hear the gasped "Oh, stop."

Instantly he was sitting up with a full foot of space between the two of them.

"What?" he asked, taking in little, shuddering breaths.

"Why are," Charlie paused and gasped. "Why are you doing this?"

"I . . . I thought you wanted . . ."

"I do, I do, but . . . why are you . . .?"

Realization dawning, Remus leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on Charlie's lips. "Don't worry Charlie," he said. "I'm not doing this because I feel I owe you, or because my wits are in some way addled by the full moon last night. I'm doing this because you're beautiful and kind and caring and gentle and I want to. I want you."

"Oh," Charlie's voice was quiet, but his response was anything but.

Remus found himself again pressed against the bed with an armful of enthusiastic Weasley. Within minutes, (very, very pleasant minutes, Remus thought,) both men were undressed and the feeling of skin on skin was glorious.

"Please, Charlie," he heard himself beg. "Want you, need you, Charlie." This last was a gasp as Charlie finally took the older man in hand.

It didn't take long before Remus was ecstatically incoherent and when Charlie latched his mouth onto one of Remus' nipples he was driven over the edge.

Regaining his senses, Remus smiled up at the red head and in one swift motion flipped Charlie back onto the bed and dove between his legs. Teasing him lightly with little nips and tastes he looked up and almost drowned in the bright eyes gazing down at him.

***

"Well, you seem more relaxed now." Charlie's voice reflected the smile that shone in his eyes.

"Yes," Remus said and tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it. Instead he pulled the younger man into a tight hug.

"And now you have to go, don't you." It wasn't really a question.

All he could do was nod.

Charlie held him tightly, then reached up and ran his fingers through Remus' hair. "You've got to go, and finish your mission. The Bee is going to be worried, so I'll send a message back that you're ok. You'll finish your mission and go home."

Remus nodded again, burying his face in the juncture between shoulder and neck.

"Do you think you'll have other missions out here?"

"I don't know," came the muffled answer. "But even if I do I'll need to keep a low profile, keep the compound secret."

"True," Charlie's voice was low. He ran his hand down Remus' back and along his ribs, resting on a small scar there. "Well then," he said, "it's a good thing I've got the opportunity to abuse my power here."

"What?" Remus looked up, confused.

"We send back weekly messages and rotate who gets to go home. But," the mischevious grin that lit up his face really did remind Remus of Charlie's younger twin brothers, "since I'm the one who schedules the message runs I've been going home more often to see mum and dad. The rest of the staff know and don't really mind since they think I've got some sweetheart back home, and now it'll finally be true." He paused. "That is, um, if you want . . ."

Remus didn't even let him finish the sentence. "Of course," he said before kissing the other man deeply. "Of course I want."

"Oh, good," Charlie answered, smiling at Remus and taking his breath away, both with his beauty and with his hands once again sliding down the older man's body.