For QL Round 11, Holyhead Chaser 2: Grimm

Optional Prompts: word: pattern; (quote) We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? — Benedict Cumberbatch; Emotion: shame

For Hogwarts: Assignment 7, Geography: Task 4 - The Bandersnatch - Write a fic set in a forest.

Once upon a time…

Wait.

No.

That's not how this story starts.

This story starts in the woods. This story starts with a boy on the cusp of being a man, and a grandmother, and a wolf, and a woodsman with an axe.

But it doesn't follow the pattern this story usually does.

…

Sirius Black hated the colour red.

He had a cloak from his mother, red as fresh spilled blood, crimson and bright. It had a hood which pulled up to hide his face, which was the best part about it.

But the reason he hated the cloak was that every time he tried to get rid of it, the cloak would find its way back to him. He'd wake up with those blood red cords tied around his neck.

Sirius Black hated the colour red.

But then again, Sirius hated a lot of things.

He hated the tiny town they lived in, far away from the bustle of the city. He hated most of the townspeople, who dreamed no bigger than their farm lives. Sirius wanted more. He wanted to leave this place, and this place hated him for it.

He hated the way his mother screamed his name like it was a curse. He hated the way she looked at him like he was her heir but never like he was her son. He hated his father's distance and his brother's desperate desire to be just like them.

Most of all, he hated the days when his mother decided that his grandmother had been alone in the woods for too long and Sirius needed to go visit her.

His mother's mother was a hateful woman named Irma, full of vitriol and spewing hatred — much like Walburga herself. She lived alone in the woods because she hated everyone she'd ever come across — hated sorcerers for having magic and not using it properly and hated the non-magical for being weak. The Blacks had always been sorcerers, though the magic was weak in Sirius' mother and even weaker in he and Regulus. Irma hated them for that, too.

Irma was everything Sirius hated about his family rolled up into one loathsome old woman. His mother never wanted to trek through the woods to visit her, but felt as a dutiful daughter she should, which was why she sent Sirius instead.

So Sirius pulled his stupid inescapable red riding cloak over his head, stuck a bit of bread and some cheese into a bag, and set off through the woods.

…

The way to his grandmother's house was over a river which ran fast and deep, and Sirius pulled back his hood and paused on the bridge. He peered over the edge, watching the water rush by.

The water was dark and clouded. There was a reason no one drank from the river. There was a reason crops had been dying.

There was a reason Hogsmeade was not a very happy place to live.

Sirius flicked a pebble into the river and watched it sink, before sighing and moving on.

…

On his way through the forest, Sirius kept to the path. Though his mother often called him a fool, he did know enough about what lurked in the darkness, creepy and looming, to not take unnecessary risks.

And yet, halfway to his grandmother's house, he heard a rustling among the trees. Though he looked around, he could see no evidence of anything that made the noise.

Though it was near midday, the trees were thick enough that the light did not penetrate. Sirius quickened his step.

A low rumble came from within the trees, the sound echoing and impossible to locate.

Sirius moved faster. A chill ran down his spine.

But nothing changed. The rustling followed him, keeping him moving, but it never seemed to come closer.

But then, as Sirius continued along the path, he found a wolf standing in the middle of his way forward. The wolf was tawny and standing up on his hind legs, front paws curled in front of him.

Sirius blinked at the wolf. The wolf blinked back at him.

"Uh," said Sirius.

"Erm," said the wolf.

Sirius blinked harder at the apparently talking wolf. "Hi?" he said eventually.

"Erm," said the wolf again. "Hello."

Sirius and the wolf stared at each other. Sirius had never expected the first talking wolf he came across to be so awkward.

"Who are you?" Sirius finally asked.

"My name is Remus," the wolf said. "I'm sorry if I've startled you. It's just that no one ever comes through these woods and I really don't know what else to do. I wasn't always a wolf. I came into the woods to find some plants to cure my mother, and a woman cursed me for treading on her land. Please help me."

"I don't know how."

The wolf — Remus — looked at him with mournful eyes. "Please."

"I'm sorry," Sirius said, and he genuinely was. "I have only very weak sorcery. Certainly not enough for any sort of human transformation."

"Help me," said Remus.

"I can't."

Remus looked at him with more misery than SIrius thought an animal could show, and then dropped down onto four legs and galloped off into the woods.

Sirius stared after him, unsure what to do with that. He felt a wash of shame, that he could not help someone who sounded so desperate. But it was the truth. He did not have the magic to reverse it, and he knew no one who would help him.

...

It made Sirius almost grateful to reach his grandmother's house in the woods. He couldn't shake the encounter. He couldn't forget the wolf with oh-so-human eyes.

When he knocked, she opened the door and peered at him suspiciously.

"Hello, Grandmother," Sirius greeted.

"What is it?"

"I've brought bread from Mother," he said, lifting his basket.

She sighed and let him in.

Sirius set the table with a plate for his grandmother — he knew better than to presume and set a place for himself by now. He laid out the cheese and bread.

She eyed him. "This bread is dry," she told him.

"Sorry, Grandmother."

"You dawdled on your way here, didn't you?"

"No, Grandmother," Sirius lied, careful to keep his tone even.

She squinted at him. "Don't lie to me, boy."

Sirius just turned away, fetching his grandmother a glass of water.

"Don't turn your back on me," she told him. "So disrespectful. Just like your mother."

Sirius felt his muscles tense at the comparison, and he paused, clutching at the countertop until his knuckles turned white.

And suddenly he'd had enough.

"I'm not," he said quietly.

"What? Speak up, boy!"

"I said I'm not," he said again, turning to face her.

"Not what?"

"Not like her," Sirius said firmly. "I'm not like her, and I'm not like you either."

He watched a slow smile creep across her face.

"You think you're special, don't you, boy? You think you're better than us."

"I think you're bitter and hateful," Sirius said, probably unwisely.

She grinned, crooked and gap toothed, and then suddenly her hands came up and Sirius found himself flying backward and hitting the wall with a thump.

"I've been waiting for you to give me a reason," his grandmother crooned, and Sirius remembered his mother telling him his smart mouth would get him into trouble one day.

He wondered if this was what she was picturing.

He wondered if this was how he would die.

"They'll think you wandered off the path," she said, echoing his own thoughts. "No one will ever think it was little old me. And with your life, I can live for decades. Maybe another century, before I have to take another. And by then, they will all have forgotten me. No one will be left to bother me. I will finally have peace."

And Sirius knew then that this would be his death.

And she was right. No one would wonder what happened to the boy with the red riding cloak.

No one would even mourn.

He closed his eyes.

And then, abruptly, looming over him, between him and his grandmother, stood the wolf. Remus was down on all fours, growling fiercely.

His grandmother scowled at the wolf.

"You? Why are you back? I granted you your life on behalf of your mother, and this is what you gift in return?"

"My mother left because she saw what you were becoming," Remus said, the undertone of a growl clear in his voice. "Whatever affection she once held was long gone, and turning her only son into a wolf would not have redeemed it. I will not let you do this."

His grandmother laughed, a joyless sound. "You think you can stop me?"

And that was the moment Remus launched himself at her. His fangs sunk into her throat, deep and piercing.

She died with a look of shock on her face, eyes staring at the ceiling of her tiny forest home. As Sirius watched, a strange silver shimmer surrounded the wolf, and as he watched, the wolf turned back into a man. He was tall and thin, the bones in his wrists clear protrusions. His hair was the same colour as his fur had been, and he had the same piercing amber eyes.

His face was dripping with blood.

He looked at Sirius intently.

"I guess you didn't need my help at all," Sirius said.

And with that, the unfamiliar, scarred, handsome face broke into a smile, lopsided and bitter but true.

"I guess I didn't," Remus said.

"Thanks for saving my life," Sirius added.

"Any time," Remus said. "But maybe don't make a habit of near death experiences."

"I'll work on that," Sirius said. "Can I clean up for you?"

Remus cocked his head, the motion incredibly reminiscent of the wolf he was only a moment ago.

"You may," he said slowly. Sirius twirled his fingers and watched the blood on his face melt away. Remus's smile grew ever so slightly

"What will you do now?" Remus asked

Sirius looked at the corpse of his grandmother, and then back at the man who had saved his life.

"I'm not sure," he said. "But I don't think I want to go home and explain all of this."

"You could come with me," offered the young man.

Sirius didn't know this man.

But Remus saved his life, and Sirius was drawn to him.

So he said yes.

Additional Hogwarts Prompts:

Word Count (dragons, writing month): 1747

Seasonal

Days of the Year: October 1st - International Day for the Elderly: Write about a Grandparent

Autumn Prompts: chill

Element: Gemini - (pairing) Sirius/Remus

Audrey's Dessert Challenge: Chocolate: Remus Lupin

Ravenclaw Themed: trait: resourceful

Astronomy: December 21 - Ursids Meteor Shower: (theme) Murder

Writing Club
Character Appreciation: 1. (plot point) One child is favoured more by parents.

Disney: S1. This is Halloween -write about a close knit community.

Showtime: 17. Cloud Serenade: (word) fool

Buttons: W5: fear

Lyric Alley 8. You're so very special

Lo's Lowdown C9: Azazel: Write about someone with distinctive eyes. Alt. Word: obsession

Ami's Audio 1. Thriller - Michael Jackson — Genre: Supernatural. Alt. Write a Fanon Pairing

Abby's Crafty Corner: 8. Gravestones: Prompt: Write about a character that dies in canon. [BONUS]

Bex's Basement: Ghost Town - Write about isolation. / Write about living somewhere that's gone downhill.

Gris Gris: C44: Sirius

Pizza: word: dry

Funfair: bingo: word: creepy

Fortnightly Boyfriend Day 10. (character) a Black family member