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Between a Rock and a Hard Place
By M J Azilem
3 hours
Remus Lupin looked out the window of the tall tower in Hogwarts towards the Forbidden Forest. He remembered the fearhe had associated with those dark woods when he had been a young student at Hogwarts.
He had believed that monsters lurked in the forest's dark and he feared them, even though Remus felt himself to be a monster now there were greater things to fear than monsters and these didn't hide. Though they did thrive in the dark.
It had been three years since the marauders had left Hogwarts. Voldemort and his followers the Death Eaters had become a horrible dark force in the wizard world. The Death Eaters believed that pure blooded wizards were the superior race and that muggles and half breeds should die rather than taint wizard blood.
They were starting a war. In opposition to Voldemort was The Order of the Phoenix a group of wizards and witches whobelieved all people were equals. They were brought together by the great wizard Albus Dumbledore. As soon as themarauders had graduated Hogwarts they joined. And three years later with their brains, cunning, and courage they were The Order's most valuable members.
Now as Remus stood in the tall tower at Hogwarts on a dim July day. There were three hours till the sun set and the full moon rose. James, Sirius, and Peter were supposed to join him and he was anxious for their arrival. Something about the drearysummer day made him nervous.
It had been a dreadful summer. The Death Eaters were gaining supporters despite The Order's attempts to stop them and Voldemort and his followers were getting more powerful and bolder every day. 27 muggle born wizards had been killed in the last month alone and 13 members of The Order had been lost; all of them Remus had considered friends.
Dread was a feeling that filled the days in the wizard world and it was taking its toll on Remus: from his shaggy unkempt hair, dark circled eyes, and faded black shirt all the way down to his torn trousers and worn D. M. boots. This young man who had once been such a lively spirit despite his difficult circumstances was now an "old and world weary man" of twenty.
If his mother could see him she'd say he was too skinny and order him to sit down and eat something. But she and his father had gone into hiding like so many other wizards and besides he didn't have time to worry about petty things. He ate what heneeded to keep going, just enough to do his job. This was no time to enjoy one's self and food was something Remus had once enjoyed thoroughly.
As he looked out of the Tower with three hours to go till his transformation a chill came over him; ice ran through his veins and he shivered dispite the heat on the summer day. Remus, sensitive to omens and signs took this as a bad one.
His feeling of unease was punctuated by a great screeching noise that rose from the Forbidden Forest and fleeing of a massive number of birds from the bows they had been perched on. Remus with his keen though colorless eyesight spotted something he did not expect coming his way from out of the thick canopy of the forest.
Remus squinted hard not believing his eyes at first, but there was no denying what he was seeing. Flying fast his way was Gawain, James Potter's beloved owl. The owl flew "like a bat out of hell" straight for Hogwarts it wavered slightly as itneared till it found what he was looking for.
Flying up to the tall tower Gawain perched on the window's ledge. His feathers were ruffled and he was agitated. Remus didn't know what to think as the bird's hard gaze at him burned into his mind. Something was very wrong; Gawain shouldn't have come from the Forbidden Forest. His friend's wouldn't come to Hogwarts through the forest.
Plans had obviously changed.
The agitated Bird squawked, stretched and flapped its wings at Remus in a gesture that looked frighteningly like "Go! Hurry!"
To be continued…