Trapped
Disclaimer -Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling
A/N - Written for QLFC round 7
Prompt- Movies that Killed their Franchises - BEATER 2: Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
I'm taking the concept of people being trapped in a Haunted House from the movie
Additional prompts - (word)watch, (word) limitless, (word) aftertaste
Special thanks to Jenny and Emy
He was being watched, he knew it; it wasn't just his imagination. Remus looked around, but the room was empty. He didn't know why he'd agreed to this stupid bet. Damn Prongs and Padfoot, he thought. Then he twitched, certain that someone had called his name. He spun around, but no one was there. He felt like he was going mad.
"Nice try, guys, but I know you're here. Prongs, Padfoot, come out," he shouted, not fooled by his friends.
There was no reply.
He shivered, walking out of the room and into another. As he passed under the doorway, the feeling of being watched increased. Remus blinked in confusion. He felt lightheaded; as if he was losing all his energy. It was odd since the full moon was still two weeks away. When it began to feel like too much, he sat by a wall. Still, he could feel his eyes starting to get heavy.
Remus found himself outside when he woke up. Maybe his friends had brought him out. He looked around and saw them waving at him: James, Peter, and Sirius, all standing by the edge of the forest. As he was about to join them, a large brown wolf came out of nowhere and started attacking them, to his shock and horror. James and Sirius immediately pointed their wands at it, frantically casting spells, but nothing happened. It was as if their magic had vanished. Remus watched, frozen, as the wolf attacked Peter first, almost tearing him apart.
At the sight of his friend in pain, Remus's limbs seemed to unlock. Seeing no other option, he ran toward the wolf in order to physically tackle him. As Remus reached the wolf, it stood like a human and advanced towards him. His bravery suddenly gone, Remus tried to run, but the humanoid wolf caught him by the neck and slammed him against the wall of the old house, knocking the air out of his lungs. As Remus struggled against the hold, the wolf-man spoke, his rancid breath blowing into Remus's ear.
"There's no point in running, Remus. After all, I'm you, and you can't run from yourself. The truth is, you're a monster and you want blood: James, Sirius, and Peter's blood."
"No, no," Remus cried, struggling as the hold around his neck tightened.
Sirius was watching the haunted house, eyes narrowed, when he tilted his head. He could have sworn he'd heard something… a scream, or a cry...
"Moony!" Sirius shouted. He immediately started sprinting toward the house. James and Peter ran after him.
"Woah, wait a sec. Where do you think you're going? Moony is supposed to be alone there," James called, but Sirius wasn't in the mood for pranks now.
"I don't care about the stupid bet anymore; something is wrong with Moony. I can feel it!" he yelled back.
James frowned but agreed to go inside. Both boys raced to the house with Peter trailing behind.
Once inside, the Marauders looked around in search of their friend, but there was no sign of Remus. The hairs on the back of Sirius's neck pricked, and he could see James regretting having made the bet in the first place.
"Moony!" Sirius shouted. There was no reply. Even Peter looked worried now; they all knew that something wasn't right.
"Uh, guys. Don't you think this place is quite weird?" Peter said, his voice barely a whisper. Sirius snorted — trust Peter to state the obvious. Usually, he enjoyed the smaller boy's bluntness, but right now it was just annoying him.
"Split up; let's look for him," he snapped, stalking away before he did something he would regret.
Sirius entered a small, dark room covered in cobwebs. After hunting around for a bit, he came across a picture of an old man with wrinkled skin and a long-beard. Even in the picture, he had a malicious glint to his eye and to Sirius, he looked evil.
"Crazy Jack? He was real?" Sirius asked wondrously, moving his fingers over the photo.
Suddenly, he felt goosebumps. He spun around, but no one was there. Before he could do anything, he heard Peter call out, his voice beyond panicked.
"James, Sirius!"
Sirius ran in the direction of his shouts, cursing at the maze of corridors.
Once he finally entered the right room, his blood ran cold. A hysterical Peter was trying to wake an unconscious Remus, his eyes wet with tears. Sirius ran to Remus's prone body and shook his shoulder, trying to wake him, but it was to no avail.
"We need to get out of here, now!" Sirius instructed. With Peter's help, he managed to lift Remus, and they staggered out of the room. As they reached the corridor, they saw James staring at them, his usually laughing face blank with fear.
"We're stuck, guys," he said plainly, his hands hanging loosely at his sides.
"What do you mean, 'We're stuck'? There must be a way out; we have to get Moony to the healer," Sirius snapped.
James just shook his head helplessly. "It seems as if the house has trapped us. There's no way out; the doors won't open!"
They exchanged horrified looks.
"Locked in?" Sirius whispered. He jerked his head toward Peter. "Come on; let's put him down for the moment."
They settled Remus against the wall, propped up as comfortably as could be.
Sirius started to pace impatiently. There must be a way out. He stood by the nearest window and pointed his wand at it. Maybe the obvious would work.
"Alohomora," he said, but nothing happened. He tried again but to no avail.
Just as Sirius was starting to get frustrated, he saw James's face light up as something clicked in the other boy's mind.
"Why don't we all use our magic?" James suggested excitedly. Both Sirius and Peter nodded and pulled out their wands. "On the count of three…"
Remus struggled against the huge wolf's hold. He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let the wolf win.
"There's no point in fighting, Remus. You're weak, useless… why do your friends even bother keeping you around?" the wolf whispered.
Remus' vision was starting to blur and his breath came in short gasps. The wolf tightened its grip, claws breaking the skin.
All he could think about was the sight of laying Sirius, James, and Peter bleeding on the grass. They weren't dead - he wouldn't allow them to be.
He jerked up his knee, catching the wolf across the torso, loosening its hold.
"The value me!" Remus snarled. He managed to twist free, shoving at the wolf, and it staggered back.
"Do they?" the wolf taunted.
"Yes," Remus said with growing certainty. With all the strength he could muster he pushed hard throwing the wolf aside. He checked his pocket which still had his wand. Quickly he pointed it at the wolf.
"Expelliarmus!" he shot, throwing the wolf across the ground with the force of his spell. He again levelled his wand at the monster and threw another, darker, hex. His opponent lay unmoving, but Remus couldn't take any chances. Not where his friends were concerned. He lifted his wand to cast the Killing curse and then stopped. He couldn't kill another living creature, not even this wolf. He wouldn't stoop to his enemy's level; his conscience was the only thing keeping him from being the monster on the floor before him. Instead,e turned around, about to leave, when his surroundings started to blur.
As the three Marauders were about to cast the spell again, all the windows shutters and the doors opened with a loud bang.
"Yes, we did it!" James shouted in delight. His happiness was short lived as the whole house started to shake.
"This place is gonna collapse, run for your lives," Peter cried, turning his tail and fleeing without another word. Both James and Sirius stayed, lifting the still unconscious Remus and dragging him out with them. Once outside, the three boys who were still aware watched, hypnotised as the old house collapsed. They turned around as they heard a groan.
Remus blinked in confusion, looking at his surroundings in confusion. In the blink of an eye, his friends were by his side.
"Are you alright Moony?" Sirius asked as the others watched him worriedly.
"You guys won't believe the craziest dream I had. I was in a haunted house and- before he could complete his sentence, Sirius cut in
"Yeah dream, it was all a dream. Uh, I think we should go back to our dorms, children like us shouldn't roam around this late" he said. James stared at him oddly but agreed.
Peter walked with Remus while Sirius and James followed. Sirius turned to James and whispered
"We're not coming back, ever". James just nodded in response. While Peter rant about homework Remus smiled inwardly. His friends do care about him. He proved the wolf wrong, he won.
The End
