Prologue
"Don't try anything funny, Lupin."
His grandmother had warned him about these kinds of situations. Ever since he was a child, she'd made him aware that he might be targeted, laughed at, attacked. Be brave, she'd always said, but don't be stupid.
He stared straight into his assailant's eyes, his expression unflinching. "You don't have the nerve," he said, trying to sound more confident than he really was. "You never have, and you never will."
The other's eyebrow twitched. "We'll see about that, won't we?"
For the first time, he felt fear, real fear. He'd been scared of many things before: failing tests, being punished for transgressions, and most of all, disappointing his friends, but never before had he felt like this—vulnerable, alone, powerless.
His enemy was perceptive; somehow, they managed to pick up on this, and he watched the other's mouth curl into a cruel, almost sadistic smile. "No one's coming for you. You're all alone. Poor, itty, bitty, Lupin."
"If you do this," he said, "you'll never be able to live with yourself."
"Perhaps. But that's a risk I'm willing to take."
Teddy Lupin watched as his attacker raised his wand and pointed it squarely between his eyes. Despite his best intentions to maintain his bravery, he felt his breath hitch in his throat, and his hands shook ever so slightly. He was afraid, so afraid that he could focus on nothing but the dark tip of the wand, and yet he was suddenly aware of a thought entering his mind, crystal clear.
Is this how they felt?
"Are you ready, Lupin?" his assailant said softly, yet cruelly. "Are you ready to meet the same sorry end as your parents?"
No, Teddy thought, this wasn't how they must have felt. They were braver; they knew they were going to die and they gladly gave up their lives so that he could live in a better world. And because of that, he wasn't ready to throw his life down the drain just yet.
"Don't do this," he said through gritted teeth. "You still have a chance: just let me help you. Please."
For a moment, he thought he'd broken through the wall, but the other merely raised an eyebrow and said: "Say it again." There was no hint of empathy, no hint of the person that Teddy had once known. All that had vanished, replaced with apathy, maliciousness.
And in that moment, Teddy knew that he had lost.
A/N: A short prologue that precedes a much, much longer chapter (coming your way on Wednesday, 8PM GMT, same place) Faves, follows and reviews are better than chocolate.