Disclaimer: The ideas are mine, he characters belong to J.K.

"Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing… The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere… panic… confusion… that's how it used to be."

Sirius Black.

"Looks like someone is getting some overtime," he chuckled to himself as he rolled the mop bucket over to the pool of blood.

"You are paid to clean, not to speak," one of the goblins reprimanded the worm-eaten man who mopped the floor with a bloody rag.

It happened a lot these days. Wizards who couldn't confirm their blood status accepted whatever job they could in order to stay alive. This man had become a house-elf for the goblins, and in exchange they faked papers so he could pretend to at least be a half-blood. Half-bloods who stayed out of the way were relatively safe while there were still muggles and muggle-borns to slaughter. And members of the Order of the Phoenix, of course.

We were out on a mission for the Order of the phoenix that day. Dorcas, Lili, Remus, and me.

That old charcoal building used to be a muggle fishing factory. In fact, that whole street was populated by muggle business once, but most of the buildings were now deserted. There had been an attack not that long ago and the cobblestones had been blown over in several places in such a way that the small street became un uneven, rocky battlefield. Glasses had been broken, and most of of the windows were now sealed with boards and nails.

The Goblins chose that abandoned place because it was unlikely that it would be attacked again. Ever since Gringotts had been taken from them they had been moving headquarters to avoid capture. One of the goblins looked at that poor of excuse for a janitor rubbing the charcoal floor with disgust, remembering the white marble of Gringotts.

On the second day of March, Dumbledore sent us there to get a shield. It was a beautiful gem-studded object, large enough to cover a grown man and much lighter than it looked. I could tell it was made by goblins, although I had no idea why Dumbledore should want a shield. He never told us. Actually, he hardly ever did tell us anything at all. But we trusted him, and that was usually enough.

We had gotten the shield from our contact without outstretching ourselves at all and it was starting to look like a very easy and pleasant assignment when I heard someone approaching us from the other side of the street.

We recognized McKinnon. Marlene's little brother, along with another boy, not much older than he was. He had just graduated from Hogwarts, last June. That's why none of us lifted our wands, at first. But I could tell there's was something odd about him, something not quite right.

The he raised his wand and started firing spells at us.

The four of us scattered and took cover behind piles of rocks. The goblins disappeared. It happened all the time those days. People who were not really supporters of Voldemort but were under the Imperius curse and did terrible things under his control. We knew they were not to blame, that they were powerless to resist it, but they were shooting to kill.

We counter-attacked with Stunning spells and Body-Bind curses, Bat-Bogey Hexes and Incarcerating charms. Even after the Death eaters arrived – there were four of them – we continued to counter attack with those spells. We told ourselves we were doing the right thing. It's not that we couldn't cast Unforgivable curses, it's just that we didn't need them. We told each other we could win our battles with milder spells and hexes because we never knew who were Voldemort's supporters and we didn't want to really hurt an innocent, one of the victims of the Imperius.

That was a lie.

Don't get me wrong. We believed that. We thought we were being… noble, I suppose. The truth is most of us couldn't do it. I didn't realize this before the war, I don't think any of us did. We were all ready die for our cause, but very few of us were prepared to kill for it.

The enemy had no such qualms.

Before long the Death Eaters revealed themselves. One of them attacked me with a slashing movement of his wand, and Dolohov's curse hit me on my left shoulder.

"Padfoot, are you okay?" Dorcas asked, because I fell down but I still had my other arm, so I said I was, "Leave Dolohov to me!"She said, casting a spell that blasted his mask off of his face.

That got his attention.

There were others Death Eaters to keep the rest of us busy. I turned my wand at Amycus Carrow when he and one of the kids started firing spells at me, while Travers focused on Moony. The last of the Death Eaters was Travers' wife, a tall woman with a wretched laugh who was busy throwing Cruciatus curses at Lily.

One of the woman's Cruciatus curses missed the target and hit me instead and I fell down, screaming with the pain of a thousand needles piercing my every bone. Lily used a Protego charm to stop the curse and although it did work, and I rolled over just in time to escape a second Cruciatus, this time from Carrow, that second Lily used defending me costed her and she was hit by a sickly yellow jinx.

Moony was the one protecting the shield, he had it strapped at his back, but I couldn't see how he was doing, busy as I was with Carrow, throwing fire-balls from his wand. I managed to hit him in the face with a Repulsion charm, but he didn't even fell. He deflected my jelly-legs jinx which ended up hitting Mckinon directly and his legs started wobbling uncontrollably. As a result, the Unforgivables he'd been aiming at Dorcas were now flying everywhere.

Carrow managed to blow up the pile of rocks in front of me and I was thrown several metres back, several small stones cutting my face and my chest before I landed. It was only then that I realized what that yellow jinx that hit Lily was. Her entire body was covered in ugly boils that were still springing up minutes after the jinx had hit it's target. She was in pain, and I could tell by the way she screamed whenever she casted another spell. I saw my friend stumble and almost fall while she continued to cast shield charms to protect herself from the curses that that maddened woman continued to fire at her.

"Incarcerous," I yelled, pointing my wand at Carrow, and almost at the same time I hear Moony screaming.

Travers' wand arrows had pierced his shield charm and hit shoulder and his left hand. He turned his back quickly and rather than perfurating the shield the arrows rebounded against it as though they were made of rubber. That gave Remus the idea to use the shield on his left arm.

Carrow had already realeased himself from the ropes generated by my spell and I ran to take cover behind another pile of stones. I heard another explosion that could only be coming from Dorcas' duel. She and Dolohov were the best of each side, they were using spells the rest of us had never even heard of.

"Expelliarmus!" I disarmed Carrow, making his wand fly away and took the advantage to throw several rocks at him with my wand. When I looked over my shoulder I saw Lily firing a Stunning Spell at Travers' wife. It didn't breath through her Shield-Spell, but it did push her back several meters, making her loose balance. I turned my attention back at Carrow, throwing even more stones trying to stop him from picking up his wand.

He became furious. We were both firing fast spells at each other at full speed now, barely stopping to breath. He broke the bones of my legs with a spell I didn't know and I screamed in pain. I fell down, but I was still pointing my wand at him and I was angry now.

"Stupefy!" I shouted, and at the same time he said:

"Cofringo!"

I managed to stun him now, but his Blasting Spell hit the tall pile of rocks in front of me at the same time, twice as stronger as before. I was thrown backwards several meters, and I lost my wand. A heavy stone hit me in the head and I became dizzy, barely able to see what was going on. I landed almost directly behind Lily, my legs broken, unable to move and gasping for air.

Lily widened her Shield-Spell, to make sure it was covering me but she wasn't doing so well herself. She bent over herself with the pain of the pustules and boils and when she looked down, her shield fell and the Death Eater's spell hit her directly. It was like a giant invisible hand punching her face and her stomach. Lily tried to cast her Shield again, but she was already drained and the spell was weak.

Travers' wife had an assassin expression on her face.

That's when it happened. It all happened really quickly.

Remus jumped to place himself in front of Lily, shielding her from the enemy's spells. He pushed her so hard she fell on the rocks, but it was better than being hit by the curses he was now deflecting with his wand.

When he had an opportunity to attack Remus knew he wouldn't get a second chance. The Stunning spells were not breaking through their shields. The time for Disarming was past.

When Remus pointed his wand at the Death Eater ahead of him there was no hesitation in his eyes.

"Avada Kedavra."

I didn't even hear the words. But the green light that came out of his wand was much brighter than the glare of the Death Mark in the sky.

Travers howled. In his madness he killed the two wizards under the Imperius curse they had at their own front line. Dolohov shouted at him, trying to make him stop but Travers continued to cast curse after curse on Remus, walking over corpses and rocks to get to the body of his wife. Remus deflected those attacks using both his wand and the shield in his left arm.

Docas broke through Dolohov's shield, but he escaped apparating next to Carrow's stunned body. Recognizing his defeat he took the other Death Eater and vanished in the eyer. Travers did the same, still holding the body of his wife.

Everything was silent for a second.

Then my moans and Lily's transfixed the air.

Dorcas ran to assist us.

Remus stood there for a minute, breathing heavily. He had his back turned on us.

None of us spoke much after that for a while. Dorcas mended my legs and took us back to her place where she could give Lily a boil cure potion. Remus didn't go along. He had to run. It was almost dark and it was the first night of the full moon. None of us saw him for a week after that.

We met after a few days in Hogwarts. Dumbledore had asked us to bring him the shield there.

I found Moony on the Wooden Bridge, towards the Clock Tower Courtyard end, starring at the grounds, feeling the cold wind on his face. That had always been one of his favorite places when we were at school. The gem-studded shield we had given so much to protect lay against one of the pilars of the bridge, at his feet. It was impossible to say that object had been in battle. It was unharmed. Its stones looked beautiful in the grayish light of that stormy sky.

"Moony?"

There was no answer. If Remus heard me, he pretended otherwise. So I watched him from the distance for a while.

He looked dreadful.

Remus was so thin I could have counted the ribs beneath his t-shirt, if I wanted to. There were black circles around his eyes. His face was filled with wrinkles and premature ageing marks which masterfully disguised the young man below. He looked old. Older than I had ever seen him. The youthful boy who was my dorm mate and friend was gone.

But none of that meant anything compared to the silence. He had not spoken about what had happened to anyone. He missed one of the Order's meetings, and barely said anything during the other. He greeted the other members, listened to their discussions and laughed politely at their jokes. He was the first one to leave.

I knew he was not okay.

"Moony?" I insisted.

"Go away padfoot," he whispered, and his hoarse and tired voice scared me more than his silence ever had.

"How are you doing?" I asked, stepping closer.

He was still not looking at me.

"I am fine. I want to be alone."

"You're not fine, Remus."

He sighed heavily.

"There's very little point in asking me questions if you don't believe the answers," he said simply.

Remus always got to my nerves when he started with his logic.

"There's not much point in lying to me either, is there?" I asked, my voice an octave higher than I had intended.

Remus, however, did not speak. He continued to stare into the horizon.

"Remus,..."

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" he asked tiredly.

"I don't know, Sirius, I just don't think I could do it! Not when I know you're not okay."

He didn't answer.

"Remus, I want to talk to you."

"I told you to leave me alone, Sirius."

"Why won't you talk to me? I thought I was your friend. You can trust me."

He flinched a little.

"There's nothing to talk about, Padfoot."

"Yes there is! Why are you pretending that nothing has happened? Do you think it will make it all go away?"

"No..." he answered in that low, hoarse voice again.

"Then why? Why won't you talk about what happened.?

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Remus, you killed a woman!" I exploded.

"So?" Remus exploded as well, looking at me for the first time, "it's nothing I haven't done before, Sirius, or have you forgotten what I am? We're not the same, you and I!"

He was breathing heavily. I was quiet. When he spoke again his voice was a little lower.

"It's not my first time. I don't need any hand-holding from you."

"Remus," I said slowly when he looked at the mountains far away again, "it's different."

"Yes, it is," he said, looking into my eyes again, and there was a fury in his eyes I had never seen before. "It is different. This time I didn't feel the taste of her blood in my mouth."

We were looking at each other for a very long time.

Remus was hurt. He needed me, but nothing I could say would help.

So I turned into a dog and lay down by his feet. We could be there for as long as he wanted.

Author's Note: I wrote this for the following competitions:

1) Greek Mythology Mega Prompt Challenge: (Ares Write about the First Wizarding War)

2) Ultimate Battle Competition! (Demon Wings – a light side character casts a successful killing curse, and the fallout from this event).

3) Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry Competition! (Defence Against the Dark Arts: Write a story based on a duel / Prompts: Sentence: I don't know *name* I just don't think I can do it! / Opening Sentence: "Looks like someone is getting some overtime," he chuckled to himself as he rolled the mop bucket over to the pool of blood / Setting: Fish Factory / Date: March 2 / Lower Word Limit: 90 / Spell: Avada Kedavra / Spell: Crucio / Color: Charcoal / Emotion: Trust / Word: Enemy

4)The Weird Prompt Strikes Back! [Daily Competition] - Prompt: Shield [object]