Conquered

Chapter One.

Remus

Most people reserve the expression "that time of the month" to describe a woman's menstrual cycle, but for Remus Lupin, the expression took on a whole new meaning. Beast, werewolf, lycanthropy, creature, furry little problem, whatever you decided to call it, it made no difference. It was what it was. Once a month, by the light of the full moon, quiet, reserved Remus would transform into a werewolf. At those times, he could rip his best friend to pieces, and not feel bad about it at the time. All self-control pushed aside, Remus Lupin was a murderer, a beast once a month.

Remus knew all too well how it was to be received. People who knew about his condition looked at him with fear. The ministry would rather him dead. Even his own parents acted as though his "condition", as they called it, was a nuisance, and they were all too glad to ship him off to Hogwarts once he turned eleven. The only people who really accepted him for what he is were his best friends James, Peter, Rose, Lily, and Sirius. They sacrificed everything for him. They helped him speak to Dumbledore about his condition, and they always made sure to take notes for him the next day. They even broke the law and became unregistered animagi for him. But Sirius, he did the most.

Sirius was the one that would skive off his morning classes to be with Remus after a particularly painful transformation. Sirius was the one who help nurse him back to health. He was the one who carried an unconscious Remus to the hospital wing. It was only Sirius who made Remus realize he was bisexual.

Of course, no one knew that he was bisexual yet and, of course, no one knew that he fancied Sirius.

No, I do not fancy Sirius! Well, maybe I used to, but Sirius is straight. A battle was raging inside Remus' head. Since the second year, Remus had known that he liked Sirius, and liked him a lot. As the years came and went, he realized that he had no chance with Sirius. By the end of his fourth year he had 'gotten over' Sirius. But he really hadn't. He still loved how Sirius' brown eyes were so rugged, manly. He loved the way Sirius' hair fell into his face. He still loved every inch of Sirius' body. Every inch he couldn't have. It was crazy, it was absolute torture.

Remus sighed and started packing all of his belongings. In two days, he would be leaving for Hogwarts, his sixth year. But he wouldn't be coming home again. He couldn't take knowing his parents didn't really love him. He knew it was time to move on.

Before the bite, Remus was just a normal boy. His parents had a considerable amount of money, and treated him well. That was then and this is now, after the 'incident' as his parents called it. It was as if his life, and all the events in it, was split into two categories: before the bite, and after it. Before the bite he was just a small child, whose parents loved him dearly. He was full of innocence, and every thing he did mirrored that happiness. After the bite, however, nothing was the same. He could no longer wear that mask of ignorance. He was no longer the child he used to be, and he was no longer treated as such. It was as if he was a different person altogether. Remus closed his eyes as he packed the last item away. He could still remember the day he was bitten; it visited him in his dreams all too often.

"Remus, darling, you have to do as I say. Daddy has someone very angry with him, and it's not safe for you to go outside alone tonight. You'll just have to owl Danny and tell him that you can't go out tonight." Mrs. Lupin looked sadly at her son. She didn't want him to get hurt because of something that had nothing to do with him. But tonight was the full moon, and, by all costs, she was going to keep Remus inside.

"But, Mummy, Danny and I wanna go up the hill where the moon looks as big as the sky!" Remus whined. At age five, he couldn't understand why, on this particular night, he was not allowed to go out.

"I said no, and that's final. I'll lock you in your room if I have to, but, by God, you are not leaving his house!" Linda Lupin winced mentally. She didn't like to yell at her child.

Remus left the room, putting on a fake face of defeat. But inside his head, he was scheming. He had to get out of the house...

Remus panted as he climbed up the hill. It was five minutes to nine, and he had to get there before nine o'clock. He wanted to scare Danny when he arrived. The air was warm and humid, with a slight breeze. Remus stopped walking for a moment, to catch his breath, when he heard a low growl. Thinking it was a dog; Remus abandoned his idea of getting to the top of the hill before Danny, and went to go find it. He loved dogs. He had always loved dogs.

He heard the growl again, but this time it was accompanied by a pair of yellow eyes, delusional with hunger. Remus shivered, this was probably not a good dog. He turned around and started up the hill again. A split second of confusion, white teeth, yellow eyes, and Remus found himself on the ground with a bloody chest. The dog had bit him. But it couldn't have been a dog...

He closed his eyes in exhaustion, but all he could see were those yellow eyes, and suddenly comprehension dawned on him. A werewolf had bitten him, not a dog. He opened his eyes to find himself in St. Mungo's, his parents looking warily at him. And, from that moment on, everything was forever changed. Gone, were the smiles from his parents' faces, gone were the reassuring words. There was no comfort in their eyes anymore. Remus was utterly alone. His parents no longer cared for him. Now, they were scared of him.

Sirius

Sirius Black's eyes snapped open, and he tried to remember the dream he was having. It had been erotic. But, like always, he could never tell who kept dreaming about. He only knew that the person had many scars around her body, but it couldn't really be female, now that he though about it. Great, now I'm a poof! Sirius shook his head, as if to rid it of the dream, and looked at his watch. It was 7:00 a.m., and in four hours time he would be on his way to Hogwarts. Sirius got up and started to put on some clothes and brush his hair. He looked around his room, ensuring that everything was packed.

He frowned as he picked up his hairbrush. He wasn't welcome at home any longer because he was actually a decent person, and didn't fall for the pureblood bullshit his parents fed him and his brother. So his parents and Regulus ignored him and made him suffer when he was home, which wasn't often at all. Sirius went down the stairs, nearly tripping over the pathetic excuse for a house-elf, Kreacher. Ignoring the elf's mutterings about what a filthy arse he was, Sirius went into the kitchen to start breakfast. Just as he was frying the eggs, his mother arrived, rather noisily, into the kitchen.

"Worthless boy!" Arayma Black shrieked. "I like my eggs scrambled, not fried!"

"Yes, mother," replied Sirius, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"You can't do anything right, can you, you ungrateful little thing? I give you a home, I give you food, and you can't even manage to give me, the woman who gave birth to you, a halfway edible meal! You are turning of age in December, and you will not step foot in this house again. Don't you think I want you in my house, oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, you're going to move out. And don't come running back to me when you can't find yourself a flat. I told you, I tried to warn you!" By this point, Mrs. Black was muttering more to herself than to her elder son. Mrs. Black was growing old, and her sanity seemed to be rapidly deteriorating. She was always muttering to herself, and wasn't in the right mind half of the time. At the moment, however, she knew exactly what she was talking about.

"I warned you, alright, about running around with dirty half-bloods, and my own son! It would be foolish to even call you a pureblood." Sirius' mother went on like this for five minutes. It was only when Sirius said that the eggs were ready that she snapped back to reality. "And straight after breakfast, you can grab the portkey to the platform," she added, before wolfing down her breakfast.

Sirius groaned inwardly. It would be hard finding a flat. He didn't have much money, and it would be foolish to assume his mother would be giving him any. At least Uncle Alphard left me some gold, thought Sirius, with a twinge of hope. But he doubted it'd be enough.

The thought of living with James had crossed his mind, but he would hate to have to ask his friend for such a favor. He and James had an odd relationship. They were close, like brothers. They did everything together, but something was missing from their friendship. He couldn't confide in James, so, in a sense, Remus was more of a friend to him when it came to the relationship stuff.

Sirius thought about his array of friends, their relationships were complicated, and somewhat stressed at points. They were the Marauders, of course, he, James, Peter, and Remus. They were friends to the end, nothing could change that. But then there was the situation with James, Lily, and Rose. Of course, James fancied Lily, but Lily didn't hand out with the Marauders. In fact, she thought them to be rather stupid, and he couldn't blame her.

Then there was Rose. What a name, Rose. She was of utmost beauty, a rare, raw kind that draws a person to her, as if passion and lust radiated off of her skin. Needless to say, she had shagged almost half the school. But she wasn't a slag. She was always depressed about one thing or another, and was closer friends with Remus. She was like the bridge between Lily and the Marauders. She was Lily's best friend, but she hung around the Marauders a lot, too. She was very likeable, and a good student (though, admittedly not amazing). She engaged in some of their rule-breaking, but she always knew when to stop. And everyone loved her.

Despite James' closeness and Rose's beauty, Sirius felt closest to Remus. There was something about Remus that knocked some sense into you when you needed it. He could always come to Remus, and never feel as though he would be laughed at. In a manner of speaking, their friendship was deeper than him and James'.

Sirius ate his breakfast quickly, and started to head out the door to catch the portkey. It would be activated in five minutes. He had hoped that maybe his parents would at least say goodbye, but when it became apparent that they weren't, he headed out the door.

Sirius stumbled a bit, and then straightened himself out. As he walked out of the dark alley that he landed in, he saw that it was a bright, beautiful day outside. He checked his watch; it was only 8:30. He had to find something to do, so he started walking in hopes that some of the Muggle stores would have something interesting in them. Two hours later, he started heading back to the station, praying he would find Prongs, Moony, or Wormtail, his best friends. He walked around aimlessly for about twenty minutes, until he heard someone shout, "Padfoot!" He turned around, and smiled upon seeing his best friend.

"Good to see you Moony, old friend."

And so began the relationship between Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.