This fiction is written by me and Alexita in co-operation. So all the credit is not supposed to go to me XD

Well, guess what? I'm not Rowling. Neither is Alex. So, we don't own a thing. Nope. Nothing. We're SO fanfiction-writers. And slash-writers too. Surprised?

HPB-SPOILERS! Not anything major, but you don't want to read this if you haven't read the sixth book. Take my advice for it.

So, here we goo…

XxXxX

Chapter one

Twisted

"We are all candy covered on the outside,

peel away the shell and we're frightened on the inside.

We are all angry, angry on the outside,

Peel away the shell, and we're rotten on the inside."

- Jack off Jill, Lollirot

When Remus Lupin was five years old, he was bitten by the werewolf Fernir Greyback. Three days later, a man sent out by Fernir kidnapped him, bringing him to the society the infamous werewolf had created with a group of friends of his own species, and a group of children already bitten and kidnapped. There they were trained in attack, in using the enhanced strength given to them by their condition, but most of all they were taught to fear and hate humans. This continued through the years, until Remus himself was old enough to teach the younger children. Then he was fifteen. He was, needless to say, a top student. He had already been allowed to go on a mission, successfully managing to bite the two-year-old boy Nathan Klein. The boy was quickly recovering, and had taken quite a liking to Remus, of course not connecting him with the big, scary dog that had attacked him.

By a completely pointless coincidence, it was exactly ten years since the day after Remus had been bitten, that his life was going to take a new turn.

XxXxX

He was leaving one of the wooden huts where they spent the winter. It was not very warm, but werewolves can handle much lower temperatures than humans. That was why they usually did not wear very much unless they were on underground missions in the wizarding world. Animal skins were fine for covering up what needed to be covered up, otherwise there was no point wearing anything at all.

The funny thing was that humans called them primitive, for using the simplest method available.

There was shouts and bangs of uncontrolled magic from the other side of the camp. Mildly curious, and not having anything to do in the first place, Remus shrugged and went to investigate.

The source of most of the racket seemed to be a human boy in Remus' own age. Although they had stripped him of his wand, magic was still crackling wildly in the air around him, and it took two of the Hunting Team to hold him down. This impressed Remus. Humans were usually weak.

"Does a spell lend it the strength, pack leader?" he asked respectfully of Fernir, who was watching the scene with an amused smile pulling at his taut lips.

"No. They get like that when they are defending their young."

Remus looked up at the human again, tears were running down his face and he was shouting various obscenities at the Hunters. Remus frowned dispassionately. He had never seen a human act quite like that. It was almost as if it had feelings.

The next second, the human had broken free, and moving with surprising speed, it had tackled Remus to the ground in no time at all.

"What have you done to Regulus, you bastards!" it shouted, trying to pry his hands against the ground. "I want my brother back!"

Then Fernir was there, lifting the human off Remus like it was nothing but a puppy and throwing it away. It hit a tree with a soft thump, and with a violent exhalation of breath, passed out.

Remus rubbed his aching wrists, slightly surprised at this odd behaviour. "Why didn't it flee" he demanded to know, as one of the Hunters helped him to his feet. "It had a chance, why didn't it try to run?"

Fernir shrugged. "Who knows how their minds work. But as I said, that one was defending one of their young. They are even more unpredictable then."

"Where is its brother then?"

"The Fetchers have it. He followed them here and attempted a rescue. Quite crafty for one of them, actually. After all, he survived in our forest unnoticed for a whole week."

Remus nodded, slowly. "How young is the brother?"

"Seven years. Quite old, of course, but he can still be tutored in our ways. As a matter of fact, I am putting him in your group. You have quite a hand with the young ones. You win their liking quickly."

"And what of the older one?"

"Well, HE can hardly be trained, can he? We will keep him for a while, as a… toy. Then we'll dispose off him."

Remus grimaced with distaste. "Knock yourselves out. Myself, I find it disgusting. I can't believe what anyone can see in such a… creature…" With that, he bowed one last time to his pack leader, and left. He was going to take a bath. The stench of human had stuck in his clothes.

XxXxX

Regulus was scared. He was still bleeding all over his stomach, the people taking care of him dressed oddly and barely spoke, and the whole place smelled weird. It smelled like dogs and poop and like blood. And Sirius had been there, and he had been shouting, and then they had dragged him away. And the other kids seemed suspicious, and they were also wearing strange clothes that smelled of wet rugs and more blood, and he wanted very much for Sirius to be there NOW.

"Hello there." Regulus jumped with fright, and backed away from the tall shape looming over him. He tried to speak, but only a small squeak escaped his lips. But then the stranger leaned over, and on closer inspection, he seemed not to be older than Sirius. Regulus was a little calmed by this likeness with his brother, but not much. Like all the other People, this one was dressed only in a thing wrapped around his waist, going down to slightly above his knees. He looked strong, even if he wasn't as tall as Sirius, and his eyes were really odd. They were a very dark yellow. When he thought about it, didn't everybody around here have eyes in some kind of yellow or orange? He wasn't sure.

"Don't be scared" the stranger told him in a soft, soothing voice. "We're not going to hurt you. We are here to help you. You are one of us, now."

"One of who?" Regulus blurted, but then cowered, afraid that he had said something bad and would be punished.

"One of the Lycans" the yellow-eyed boy told him. "There are very few of us, and we are very special. You have been very lucky."

Regulus was going to point out that he didn't feel very lucky at all, and that he wanted to be home, and do you know that you smell weird, but decided against it. Instead, he said:

"Where did Sirius go?"

"Who's Sirius?" the older boy asked.

"My brother" said Regulus, proudly.

Remus sighed. "I see. Well, he saw that you were fine here, and he left you in our care. He won't be back."

The seven-year-old glared at him. "I don't believe you. They took him away from me. He was yelling."

The other boy smiled. "Well, he didn't know who we were then. But we have explained everything to him, and he understands now. He isn't here anymore. But enough about that. Your name is Regulus, is that correct?"

The boy nodded. "Yes. Regulus Black."

"Your last name doesn't matter anymore" the older boy chided. "Only that you are Regulus. When you have gone through your training, you will also have a pack-name, but for now, Regulus is sufficient."

Not really sure what 'sufficient' meant, but refusing to admit that to this stranger, Regulus bit his lip uncertainly. His mother always said that it was really important to be a Black. He didn't understand this now.

"What's your name?" he finally ventured.

"Remus. My pack-name is Moony. I am going to be your teacher, Regulus. I am going to take care of you now."

But Sirius is supposed to take care of me, Regulus though, but he didn't dare say it aloud. He wasn't sure what to think of Remus-Moony yet. He talked gently, and he didn't have a bad smile, and he hadn't hit him so far. He wasn't scary, but Regulus wasn't sure if he was nice either. He just was, for now. Like trees or ground or weather. Regulus would have to have some time to find out what to make of him.

XxXxX

His whole body aching, Sirius was watching the stars through the cracks in the roof of the primitive shelter, trying to ignore that he was freezing to death. At least, he though bitterly, if he died tonight he wouldn't have to endure the… things that had happened to him today once more.

He had never had any prejudices towards werewolves, had only felt sorry for them for suffering under their illness. But these… these were just monsters. They were cruel and controlling and cold. He once more called to memory the boy in his own age, and shivered. He had looked at him like was he… a spider, or something equally disgusting. Like he longed to crush him under his foot. The boy had referred to him as "it". Yes, Sirius had been aware that rebel groups existed, and that they didn't think very highly of humans, but he had no idea that it was this bad.

And now Regulus was to become one of them.

And he was going to freeze to death here, or suffer their so-called games with him until he went mad.

Sirius didn't want to die. He was fun-loving and mostly happy young man, with good friends and bearable grades. Dying was very far down on his list of things to worry about. And now he didn't have a chance of survival, and this scared him more than he wanted to admit. But worse still was that dying meant not being able to get Regulus out of this hellhole. He had never been able to protect his little brother from being brainwashed by his parents; now he would not be able to protect Regulus from being brainwashed by a group of mentally dysfunctional werewolves.

"Food, human" a soft, contemptuous voice said, and something landed beside him. Sirius looked up to see the young werewolf boy in his own age that he remembered from later. He was looking down at him with cold eyes. At least he had not been part of the group that had raped him. It was always something. But seeing now how the other boy looked at him, Sirius started to suspect that the boy had refrained from joining by the same reason that Sirius would not have sex with an animal.

He looked down at the red, bloody lump beside him, and grimaced with distaste.

"Are you expecting me to eat raw meat?" he wondered aggressively.

"Yes. Unless you want to starve, that is what I expect you to eat, human. But it is, of course, your own choice." He looked like this amused him, like Sirius refusing to eat was some kind of a joke. It was frightening, and at the same time it was simply infuriating. Didn't he understand what he was doing? Didn't he understand the meaning of a life? Was he so completely heartless?

Sirius made a disgusted noise, pushing the offending meat as far away from him possible. "I'll rather starve. As a matter of fact, I hope I'll die as soon as possible. Your little friends have disgusting habits."

"I know" said Remus, looking at him in a way that made Sirius too angry to care about the consequences.

"You look at me like I'm a monster even if I haven't done you a thing, but you and your friends have kidnapped my brother, you are fully prepared to let me starve to death, and you think it is having sex with a human is disgusting, rather than the concept of rape. If anyone is a monster around here, it is you!"

Remus twitched in surprise, but soon enough regained his composure, sneering coldly down at the prisoner. "What a very human thing to say. Judging without knowing. We've done your brother a great favour, human."

Sirius gritted his teeth. "I've got a name."

The werewolf laughed mirthlessly. "Names, human, are about respect. And for your kind, I have none."

"Then you are no better than the human that hunt werewolves for fun" Sirius spit at him, wanting desperately to do harm now.

And the only thing he could remember later was Remus turning into a blur of speed, before everything turned black.

XxXxX

The doorbell buzzed angrily, and James took the stairs in one great leap, landing heavily on the doormat. "I've got it!" he yelled over his shoulder to his parents, before flinging the door open.

What he saw on the other side made his chin drop. Of all things he had never expected HER to stand on his doorstep. Nor to actually look worried. Worried in an angry, tight-lipped way, but still worried.

"Uhm… Mrs Black? What gives me the…honour?"

She gave him a sharp glance, making him feel like he was shrinking. "Is my son here?" she asked abruptly.

"What, Sirius? No. I though he was at home." He saw her bite her teeth together, and a surge of burning worry rose inside him. "He's gone? You don't know where he is? Is he in trouble?" he asked, all in one breath.

"I wouldn't ask you if I knew where they were or if they were in trouble, you stupid boy!" she sharply shot at her, but now her own worry was all too evident in her pale-green eyes, making their icy surface crackle slightly.

And James had noticed something else.

"They?" he wondered weakly. "Regulus is also gone?"

"Yes."

She is a mother, James suddenly realised with a start. An awfully bad, respectless mother, yes, but she's still their MOTHER. And now they're gone. Oh.

"How long have they been gone?" he asked, now in a much gentler tone.

"One week and a day."

James gasped, staring at her. "They've been…" Now I get what made her desperate enough to come here, he thought a bit wryly, before the chilling fear that her words brought caught up with him. "But why didn't you ask before?" he asked weakly.

She glared balefully at him. "As Sirius has a habit of leaving his home without asking permission, I thought that was the case right now. As for Regulus, I could not find any reason to why he would be here."

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, James realised that she was right. And now Sirius had been gone for a week. Anything could have happened to him.

"James? What's this?" his father asked, standing in the doorway to the kitchen and looking worried.

"Sirius is gone, dad. He's been gone for a week. Er… this is his mother." He added, nodding at the rigid woman in the doorway.

"Oh. Mrs Black." He bowed curtly. "I am sad to hear about your son."

"Sons" the woman corrected in a clipped voice.

And what followed was something James would turn over several times in his mind afterwards, to finally come out with the conclusion that his father was more than worth all the respect that James had ever shown him. He managed to talk Mrs Black into entering their kitchen, even having a cup of mudbloodlover-contaminated tea, and then talked at length to her, finding out more details about the disappearance of the brothers. His mother, who had always abhorred and despised Mrs Black, an opinion founded on what she had been told by Sirius, sat now at her side repeating her condolences, offering more tea, and even putting a comforting hand on Mrs Blacks bony shoulder. And when the other woman then twitched and looked at his mother like she thought she was mad, she held her ground, smiling bravely in the face of that ice-cold stare.

I think I am going to clean my room tonight, James thought through a shocked haze, before he was once more clubbed over the head by the thought that he kept throwing away from himself, but always returned like a determined boomerang:

Sirius was missing. He could be harmed. He could be dead.

And his brother was gone with him.

And Mrs Black was scared.

And Sirius would perhaps never come back…

In just a few hours, the world of James Potter had been destroyed.

It was going to get worse.

XxXxX

When Sirius woke up, he was so stiff from cold that just drawing breath hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes. Tears that immediately froze in the blistering morning air.

Trembling violently, waves of nausea rising in his throat, he sat up. His teeth were clattering together, and from his ankles and down he was completely numb. His fingers were in the same sorry state. And he was more hungry than he had ever been in his whole life. To put it bluntly, he was desperately fearing for his own life.

Desperate wizards have a tendency to lose control…

There was a crackle of raw magic, and a fire sprung to life in the middle of the air. Instinctively, the boy reached out towards it, before his wits caught up with him. Warming up frost-bitten limbs, it told him, has nasty consequences. Blisters are created. The harmed part turns blue and is rendered useless. He wouldn't be able to use either his hands or feet, and that was not very good if he was given even the tiniest chance to escape from here.

Escape with Regulus.

So instead of warming his limbs, he tried to soak up as much heat from the fire as possible from a distance. With a twig he then lifted the dirty, frozen piece of meat from the ground, and stuck it into the fire. Impatiently, he watched it sizzle and pull together, willing the fire to grow hotter, but without any real emphasis. He didn't want to burn the only food he was likely to get in a while.

It almost started to look like it was done, when Remus came in. When he saw Sirius staring at him like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, he chuckled coldly. With a flick of what Sirius recognised as his own wand, he put out the fire. With another flick, the sad scrap of half-cooked meat was snatched from the end of the stick. It landed by Remus' feet. Making sure that Sirius saw what he was doing, the werewolf then slowly and deliberately stepped on the meat.

The human boy watched through some sort of dull, apathetic haze. Pain wrenched at his intestines, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

Nothing.

Not a sound.

And Remus still watched him with eyes that were neither hateful or cruel. The only thing they contained was indifference and vague disgust. That was all. He had just swatted a mite, stepped on a bug. Crushed a life so small and pointless that any other emotions were a waste of time and energy.

"You eat like us, human" said the boy simply. "Or you don't eat at all."

And a sadness and a fatigue larger than anything befell Sirius, swept heavily over his numbed senses. This boy would never be able to see him as a person, none of these people that lived here would. Their minds had been so twisted and bent and sharpened down to a needlepointed core, that they would never be able to change. And soon enough, Regulus would be one of them. Sirius could never save him, not when he was as weak as this. There was no hope for either of them.

And he would spend his last days frightened and humiliated, crawling in the dirt of this hut, clinging on to life like the animal every human was proved to be when she was stripped of everything she wanted and needed.

What would James say if he saw him like this? Sirius thought, as frosty tears – tears sprung from an inner, deeper pain this time – clung to his lashes. James looked up to him, like he looked up to James. Like friends do. What would Peter do if he saw the person he must surely believe to be unbreakable in this state?

Oh, how Sirius longed for his two friends, longed for them to be there despite the horrible humiliation. He wanted them to take care of him, to tell him that everything was going to be fine. He wished their parents could be here, too, for he longed for a grownup to take this situation out of his hands. Even his mother would do, for she would not give in to her weakness like he had done to his. Yes, even his stupid, selfish parents would be better than this sudden, vast loneliness. They were strong and capable and proud, could handle this for him when he was too weak.

Anyone but this cold being that could not find it possible to feel compassion or understanding with a human.

"I know" said Sirius, weakly "that you probably will not care what I say, but I beg you to let me see my brother one more time. I won't tell him what this place really is, I will just tell him that he's safe here, that I have to go away. Please."

Remus thought: The small one still doesn't trust us. If I give him the chance to see his brother again, and his brother tells him that we have been telling the truth, I will have won him over completely. And then they can do what they want with him, it will not matter in the least.

He nodded. "Fine. I will get you some clothes to wear when you talk to him. Just to show that you are fine. And you are going to tell him that you are. That you want him to be here, that he is very privileged to get this chance. Do you understand?"

And then he turned away, grimacing at the sound of wild sobbing that erupted from the small, curled-up shape.

He would be glad when this was over.