Round 4 of The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
A/N: My summer vacation is only just beginning and it lasts for the duration of this round! Which means hopefully I'll have time to hit this one on the head really well. Go Wasps!
Disclaimer: All rights to JoRo.
Numbers: Wimbourne Wasps Chaser 1 Prompt: Genres #8: Hurt/ Comfort
Additional Prompts: Stupid, Danger
After the Fighting Ends
Remus's heart was not racing.
It really ought to have been. He was suddenly in incredible danger. It was ironic, really. The war was coming to an end, but Remus had never felt less safe. Just after the bite, he had his parents to protect him. When he went to Hogwarts, he had Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey. Since his second year, he was constantly around the other Marauders and, eventually, Lily. After Hogwarts, the whole Order had his back.
Suddenly it was all gone. The Order was disbanded since the fall of Voldemort.
It was four days after Hallowe'en. The tired young werewolf was sitting at a table outside Florean Fortescue's. The sky was gray and there was a light rain ruining the paper Remus had thrown on the table. The headline- Black Gets Life in Azkaban. Remus had been disappointed when he heard there wouldn't be a trial.
He felt so stupid. This hurt he was dealing with now had been building up to this for ages. Sirius and Peter had stopped talking to him long ago. Remus finally understood why.
He'd known, of course, that Lily and James were in hiding, but he hadn't been told why. He never got a chance to say goodbye before Dumbledore locked them away.
He assumed Sirius was their secret keeper, he was the obvious choice. He'd been loyal to James and to James's devotion to Lily since first year.
But Remus had overlooked it. In the end he always would, the same way he could overlook Sirius trying to use him to murder Snape in sixth year.
Sirius of the House of Black, the most notorious Pure-Blood family in Britain. It had all been staged from the beginning. Raise a Black to get inside Hogwarts, get close to Dumbledore, join the Order.
Betray them.
James and Lily had gambled their lives on him and lost.
So stupid!
Remus sat at the table, lost in his thoughts. He noticed a group of burly wizards huddled under an awning. He recognized one as a printer for the Daily Prophet. He'd interviewed for a job there about a month ago. He'd never heard back.
Remus tried to ignore the men, even though they seemed interested in him. He was thinking about James and Lily, and how everything made sense now. Voldemort had led them into traps before, Dumbledore must've realized they were targets!
Remus felt like he was going to be sick. He'd suspected it for so long. Now he could no longer deny it.
Dumbledore suspected he was the traitor. Voldemort was appealing to werewolves all over the country. Remus would have been tempted if he wasn't so close to the Marauders and Lily. Dumbledore didn't have faith in him. Sirius and Peter had mostly stopped talking to him after James hid. Dumbledore might've warned them not to.
A bell dinged. Florean Fortescue stepped out of his shop to talk to Remus.
"You alright, mate?" he asked.
"Yes, quite alright." Remus grabbed the damp newspaper and tucked it into the folds of his robes. "I'll be moving along."
Fortescue glanced warily at the group of wizards watching Remus. "That might be best." He watched Remus leave, then retreated back into his shop.
Remus made his way toward the Leaky Cauldron. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the figures approaching him.
"Lupin!" the man called.
Remus walked faster. It was the printer.
"Where you goin'?"
The printer was running and caught up. He grabbed Remus's robes and pulled hard, throwing the man to the ground. His nose hit the cobbled stone and Remus tasted blood.
"Thought you could get a job working at my paper, eh wolf?" The man spat on Remus's bloodied face.
Remus looked around, but there was no one there to help. The man kicked Remus in the middle, knocking him onto his back. Remus felt his ribs aching.
The rain was falling harder now, and the printer ran back to his friends under the awning.
Remus struggled to stand up in the rain. No one was around to help him. If the others had been there, James would have beaten the printer up. Sirius would've gone after the other men and Peter would be helping Remus stand. Lily would probably be lecturing the men after James and Sirius were done with them. Possibly using Levicorpus.
Rather then making him smile, these thoughts only made the hurt worse. This was what his life was going to be like without the others. James, Lily, and Peter were dead. Sirius was locked away in Azkaban for good.
Remus felt so alone.
For a wild second, he was tempted to travel to Azkaban and make Sirius suffer for his betrayal, but the feeling quickly passed. Remus had been fighting for eleven years now. He was tired and he wanted to move on.
But he knew he never would. He walked as gingerly as he could into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Remus!" said Tom, excited to see him. Tom didn't know Remus was a werewolf. "What can I getcha?"
"Something hot," gasped Remus, collapsing into a booth. He drew his wand and pointed it at his cracked ribs, muttering a healing charm to stop the bruising.
"You alright, man?" Tom asked.
"That's no man."
At the sound of that all-too familiar voice, Remus looked up fearfully. Severus Snape was seated at the bar. He looked to be on his fourth or fifth shot of Firewhiskey. " 'S a werewolf, that 'un," growled Snape.
"And you're a Death Eater," snarled Lupin, standing up. His fight was back. He was angry. He might not be able to get to Sirius, but here was someone just as bad.
Snape looked worse for wear. His hair looked greasier, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked as if he'd been crying. "Sad for your master?" Remus goaded. "Wished he could've murdered James and Lily and gotten out alive?"
Without warning, Snape whipped out his wand and stunned Remus, knocking him on his back against the booth.
Snape stood on unsteady legs. "It might interest you to know, wolf, that my trial was yesterday. Read all about it."
Remus coughed.
"Dumbledore himself vouched for me. More than can be said for your pal, Black. They put their faith in the wrong man, didn't they?"
Remus yelled maniacally and lunged at Snape, who quickly deflected him with his wand again.
"Both of you!" Tom shouted. "Out of my pub this instant!"
"I want to pay my tab!" Snape snarled.
"I don't want your money!" Tom yelled. "Get out! I don't want to see your face in here again!"
Without a word, Snape turned on his heal, wobbling drunkenly, and stormed out. Remus collapsed into a seated position at the booth.
"You too!" yelled Tom. Remus's jaw dropped. He'd never seen Tom this mad. "We don't serve your kind here."
Some other wizards in the pub were on their feet, ready to force Remus to leave if Tom gave the word. Hoping for it, more like.
Remus could only gape. He hadn't received this kind of treatment in years. He could hide his being a werewolf easily enough. James and Sirius especially helped. Now, it seemed his secret was out. It wouldn't be long before the whole community found out.
Holding his pained ribs, Remus stood up and Disapparated. He found himself outside a large house. It had been the Potter estate when James' parents were alive. Remus had visited often during the summers. He unlocked the door magically and walked inside.
Cobwebs lined the ceiling. There was a fireplace that had been empty for years. The entire manor was cold and uninviting.
Remus collapsed on the couch. A dust cloud erupted around him and he sneezed miserably. This was home for now.
He had no way of knowing that in the morning, a wizard from Gringotts would come, showing a new young couple the house, hoping to sell it to them. He had no way of knowing that this would be the last time he'd ever set foot in his old friends' house or sleep on the couch.
Instead, he thought back to summer before sixth year. James had owled him and Peter, letting them know that Sirius had run away from his home and was staying there. Remus had come right away.
Sirius had been making bad jokes that evening. "Now I'm out of their inheritance, I wager," he said. "Pity, too. Their gold's about all I could ever want."
Remus had smiled. "And the giant house?"
"No way," Sirius had shaken his mangy head. "Nothing but bad memories in that house for me. I'll be miserable if I ever find myself living there again."
"You could've inherited it and given it to me," Remus had said. "Werewolves can't get decent jobs anywhere. I'll have no way to pay rent."
"You are not going to be living in the street," James had said, ardently. "Tell you what. After Hogwarts, if any of you need any help, you can live in this old house with me. And Lily." He had added with an afterthought.
"Right, James and Lily," Peter had sniggered. "What was the last thing she said to you, Prongs? You were as bad as Snape?"
James had shrugged then. "Maybe I am. You realize how many times I've almost been expelled?"
"Just as often as me?" Sirius had offered.
"Yeah," James had answered. "And you know, I reckon Evans is right. It's time we cool our heads a bit. There's a bloody war going on, and no one can do a damn thing about it." James had grinned, then. "That was before the Marauders were fighting. We make a pact, right now. We're going to end this war. And we'll have each other's backs the whole way through. Deal?"
"Deal." They had all agreed. It hadn't seemed serious at the time. James was always offering mad ideas for the hell of it.
That was before James and Lily got together. It was before Dumbledore told them about the Order, and how it was the only organization coming close to fighting Voldemort. If Remus had known then what would come of it- that in their own way, those three friends of his would be the end of the War, he would've taken it back. He would've refused to let them fight. They could've broken it off with Sirius when they had the chance. He'd been stupid to believe such a childish idea that they would all be together forever.
But he'd never imagined that they'd leave him alone like this.
The fighting was done, and he'd never been in more danger in his life.
Because Remus Lupin had no one.