Chapter 0.75: Blood Park

The start of the day was near. She could feel it in her bones. She groaned, barely even able to move. Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn, she continually thought, just about to scream in pain. The cold ground was spotted with her blood. Rolling over, she experienced an old type of pain that she had never gotten used to. Her elbows cracked as she elevated her upper body to get up, but she couldn't. Falling back on to the ground, more pain shot through her body. She was sure that at least two of her ribs were broken, and the rest were either fractured or bruised. Her skin felt too heavy on her bones, and her bones themselves felt like they were made of lead.

She could barely force her muscles to move her joints, this time successfully getting up. Dragging herself to a nearby tree, she bit her lip to keep from screaming as she pulled herself up into a standing position. The pain tripled in intensity as she held on to the tree trunk for dear life. Her eyes were closed as she panted, tasting the blood from her bitten lip.

Suddenly, she heard voices, footsteps getting louder on the pavement. In a matter of seconds, she could clearly make out their words. One man was saying something along the lines of, "I can't believe he escaped. You're sure he went in this direction?" "Last time I saw him, yes," another replied. She struggled to move. Stumbling to conceal herself behind the bushes, she bit her lip harder, trying to ignore the thorny underbrush that was drawing blood. It was becoming harder for her to breathe, and she could feel herself starting to lose consciousness.

"Hey, Sirius!" she heard one call out, "There's blood over here!"

She hadn't realized how close they were. She heard the man she was assuming to be Sirius run closer.

"Oh, no," he murmured, then loudly, "Remus!"

The two men tore through the bushes and the underbrush, following the trail of blood.

"Remus, you bloody bastard, don't tell me got yourself near-dead!" one yelled in frustration.

"You're not allowed to do this to us! You're supposed to stay with us at all times! We established rules about this! You, who are a ridiculous stickler for all rules no matter how inane, are not allowed to do this!" the other cried angrily.

In a moment they came upon a person, but not the one they were expecting. She was only half conscious by this time, and even summoning up all of her strength would not have been enough to escape from them, whoever they were. The only thing she could do was let out a slight groan that sounded pitiful even to her.

"Oh no," one said, "James, what does this mean?"

"Oh Remus," James whispered, "What have you done?"

"James! You cannot honestly think-"

"Sirius, look at the goddamn blood on this girl! The scratches, the claw marks!"

"Prongs? Padfoot?" another voice called out.

"Wormtail?"

"I've got Moony! He's bleeding really badly- we need to get him help as soon as possible!"

"Wait, Peter, we've got another injured here!" James called back.

"What?"

"Come on, James, help me lift her. It's dawn, and we need to get back to the house before anyone sees us."

The two proceeded to untangle her from the underbrush, removing bloody thorns from anywhere they could in her skin. At this point she was close to being completely unconscious, only able to groan and whisper a weak "no" as she felt herself being lifted.

"You've got her, Sirius?"

"Yeah, I think so," he replied, trying to cradle her as much as possible. Her injuries looked savage; never had they seen someone so wounded.

As they made their way back out on to the pavement, Peter reached them, half-carrying Remus. He could barely walk, and it seemed like every visible inch of his skin was scratched or torn, ripe with blood. His left shoulder looked like it had become dislocated, and his right ankle was bent at an awkward angle.

"Who is that? What happened?" Peter asked, nodding towards the girl.

"We have no answer to either question," Sirius replied, taking in Remus' bloody form.

"Remus?" Peter addressed him.

"I don't know," he replied weakly, "I don't…remember…what…"

And with that, Peter felt Remus become dead weight on his shoulder as he blacked out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," James said. He moved to lift Remus' weight off of Peter.

"It couldn't have been Remus, right?" Wormtail asked his two friends as he helped Remus into James' arms.

"That's what we've been wondering," Sirius replied in a low voice as they made their way back to James' home.

"It can't have been. If so, why would Remus be this injured as well? Did he attack her, and then something else attack him? We lost him fairly early on in the night, so we may have caused some scratches, but not nearly anything worse. There are no bears in this park, and no other magical creatures either. All living things in the park are controlled by the park officials here. They let little to nothing get in. We're lucky my father has the connections that he does, or else we wouldn't have this space for Remus in the first place," James said.

"Then how did she get in?" Sirius asked, looking down at the near-corpse in his arms.

Hey guys! I'm calling this chapter 0.75 because it's not completely finished yet…or maybe it is. I haven't fully decided yet. It's basically just an introduction. Comments? How are you liking it? I think my writing has improved. =D