Chapter 1:
The Abduction
Remus Lupin woke with a start.
With a light flutter, the letter he had been writing before he'd dozed off fell to the floor at his feet. With a tired sigh, he bent down and collected the parchment and quill but froze when he heard a sound behind him. He listened carefully and heard, with his lupine hearing, the sound of withheld breathing. It was coming from his doorway, just on the other side of the wall. The lamp beside him and the just dying fire in the fireplace betrayed his position and doubtless whoever had decided to enter his home had heard his movements. He could smell anxiety and sweat from the intruder and they were probably as nervous as he was.
"Who goes there?" Remus called out, trying to control the situation, hoping to frighten them, but they didn't move. Warily, he stood and placed the unfinished letter in his chair, checking first that the date was written and that the parchment was face down. Should he not make it through this encounter, it would be helpful for any investigators to know when last he was here. As paranoid as such actions might seem, Remus wasn't taking any chances.
As slowly and silently as he could, Remus made his way to the doorway. He reached for the wall and noticed only too late that his shadow was visible and a masked figure whipped around the wall and hit him with a nonverbal knockout jinx but, as unprepared as he was, Remus managed to stay conscious, though he did stumble to the ground. He immediately blessed his lycanthropy before a stronger curse hit him. This stunned Remus for a moment, but he easily shook it off.
"What the fuck!" cried the unsuspecting Death Eater.
It was at that moment that Remus realized he did not have a wand.
With a quick glance, he saw that it did indeed lie on the table beside the armchair he had been in moments before and was undoubtedly out of his reach. The cloaked man tried again, but Remus managed to roll aside and ran to take cover behind his desk. There was more scuffling as a second Death Eater appeared.
'Damnit,' thought Remus irritably. 'But of course, there had to be more than one!'
On the other side of the room, the two Death Eaters nodded at one another and split up. One advanced menacingly toward Remus while the other raced toward Remus' unsuspecting wand. As he snatched up the wand, and therefore also Remus' attention, the other gave him a hard blow to the side of his unsuspecting head. Remus whirled around; only to hear his nose break with a sickening crunch as the Death Eater's fist collided with it. He sunk back with a groan, and after a moment's pause, stood to his not-so-impressive height of 5'10" and snarled, bearing his teeth.
The Death Eaters took a step back, surprised at this unexpected behavior. Remus drew back his fist and gave the Death Eater a punch in the face, returning the favor of a broken nose. As he staggered back, Remus turned to the other, who was still clutching both wands. As the fury of the wolf rose inside him at this injustice, Remus felt his back begin to rearrange.
'No', he thought to himself. 'Not that far.'
His back snapped back, but a wild gleam remained in his eyes. He could feel claws growing in place of his fingernails, hard and sharp. His eyes grew dark as he advanced on the remaining Death Eater.
Frightened, the Death Eater took another step back, raising both wands at once. The wolf inside Remus sneered at the Death Eater's foolishness. The wands couldn't hurt him now.
The Death Eater murmured a spell under his breath and the two wands merged into a gleaming silver blade. The wolf recoiled, and Remus' eyes widened. But the wolf was better at battling banter than Remus was.
"That's new," he growled, and the Death Eater's eyes widened. Ther voice that had spoken was inhuman... and dangerous.
They stood, staring at each other. The Death Eater radiating with fear and the stench of it filled Remus' nostrils. It was intoxicating in its simplicity and the beast inside of him wanted more.
Remus lunged at the Death Eater, trying to strike, but the Death Eater swung his blade at him in retaliation.
Remus leaped back and then attacked again, coming from the side this time, crashing into the robed wizard, and they both fell to the floor in a flurry of claws and silver. With a roar, Remus jumped back, and rose, staggering, looking in horror at his arm as it burned with the fire of the blessed metal. With a gaping gash in the side of his arm, the pain nearly blinding him, he snapped back at the man who had caused his suffering with fury double fold. The intruder was down, clutching his face in agony. Remus noted with a beastly satisfaction that there was blood seeping out from between his fingers.
A movement from behind Remus caught his attention and he swung around to find the other Death Eater pointing his wand at Remus.
"Expelliarmus!" the Death Eater shouted before Remus could react. Without a wand, Remus's body got the full blow of the spell and was thrown against his wall, his head hitting the hard wood with a crack as pain coursed through his body. He slid to the floor as the firelight flickered on his face. His vision was blurry, but he could see two figures approaching him as the Death Eaters checked for conciousness. But they had won, and with a moan, Remus let the darkness consume him and closed his eyes.
"Yeah, he put up quite a fight."
The two Death Eaters stood over Remus Lupin. He had been thrown unceremoniously onto a broomstick and taken to DE headquarters. As soon as they had arrived, a guard had sent a message for a dungeon to be opened and he had been deposited in a small cell. While one of the men that had performed the capture left for the den to nurse a broken nose, the other had supervised a prisoner. Now, an interrogator joined him.
The interrogator crouched down to survey his new victim closer. His youthful face had signs premature aging and there were a few gray hairs in his mane of light brown hair. He looked very fragile but a closer look told the tale that he had definitely put up a nasty fight.
"By the looks of this fellow, he could've given you hell. By the looks of you he didn't." The interrogator stood to face the captor. "You're one lucky son of a bitch."
He dusted off his hands and left the room and the remaining Death Eater mumbled things like "…uncalled for" and "What does he know?" as he traced his fingers on the scratches on his face. However, he too left the unconcious man where he lay and followed his elder.
On the other side of HQ, Lucius Malfoy was writing a letter to an esteemed colleague of his when there was a knock at his door.
"Who is it?"
"Rookwood."
Lucius smiled. "Come in."
The office door opened and Augustus Rookwood, an old family friend, stepped in.
"Yes?" he asked. Lucius gestured for the man to take a seat from behind his large desk. When he did, Lucius noticed that he had picked his lavish black leather armchair rather than the wooden perch beside it and grinned inwardly. 'Once a Slytherin…'
"We have been successful in capturing one of James Potter's companions," Rookwood reported.
"Really?" Lucius' face brightened with an evil pleasure. "Is it Black?"
Rookwood shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not, but very close."
"Hmm," Lucius replied, not believing him.
"I assume it is so we can try him for information on both Potter and Black. I thought you would be pleased to hear of these advancements."
Lucius decided indifference was not a good idea for this occasion. "Actually, I am. Who is it that you did capture then, consequently?"
"Remus Lupin, sir."
'Lupin…' Lucius thought, rattling his memories for a face. Then a gear clicked in his mind.
"Does he look rather sickly?" Lucius asked.
Rookwood thought for a moment, then nodded."Yes. Yes, he does."
Lucius nodded. "Then I know the one. Yes, very close to the both of them, if I remember correctly... Very good. Let me know when the interrogation starts."
Rookwood stood and bowed. "Certainly," then left the room.
Lucius sat back in his chair, smiling, with his fingers to his lips.
He loved interrogations.
Rookwood returned to the dungeons a short while later and gathered a couple other Death Eaters to help him, as neither of the captors were anywhere to be found. They set up chains and held the man up and manacled his wrists to the wall and left him on the floor. As soon as he was secure, Rookwood awoke him. "Innervate."
Wearily, the man before him fluttered his heavy eyelids and looked up tiredly at the masked Death Eater. He didn't say a word; he just closed his eyes again and dropped his head to his chest, exhaustion winning out over Rookwood's spell. Rookwood thought this was curious but decided not to bother himself about it.
'Let him sleep. He'll need it,' he told himself.
He left the room and locked the door behind with an enchantment of his own creation before placing a guard at the door. He gave the young man orders to alert him and him alone when the prisoner awakened.