Title: Promises to Keep
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Remus/Sirius
Rating: PG13
Status: one-shot, complete
Disclaimers: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Notes: Written for my HPVamp Deathday assignment.
Request- Remus/Sirius, Remus as a slayer
Warnings: AU
"Cold out tonight."
The quiet observation was acknowledged with a slight tilt of a weary head. Outside, the fiercest blizzard of the winter had finally settled down and leaving eerie quiet behind. The temperature had dropped steadily as the clouds had cleared and the moon, just a few days shy of it's full glory, shone brightly over the sparkling white landscape. One could almost imagine the hibernating animals snuggling together under the blanket of snow waiting for spring. Remus Lupin and his companion could have been the only creatures stirring in the whole countryside, it was so quiet and still.
But the slayer knew that they weren't.
"Perfect night for hunting then."
Such cold, still nights were a vampire's dream and slayer's nightmare. Humans would all be snuggled in their homes, lethargic... vulnerable... lambs to the slaughter. The vampires could pick and choose their prey as they liked. No one would stop them. No one would even know until the freezing cold ceased. The death toll would be high, Remus knew.
Human slayers were as vulnerable to the weather as their brethern and even the hardiest would be leery of venturing out before morning. Hours after it would already be too late.
"You're going out then?"
Strong arms, deceptively thin, wrapped around his shoulders and he leaned back. "I have to, Siri. If I don't, it'll be even worse for the humans and then how will I live with myself?"
Sirius sighed and held him tightly. "I don't understand you sometimes. They taunt you, look down their noses at you. They give you the shit jobs." He grabbed Remus' wrist and shook it in front of the slayer's face. The registration bracelet glowed faintly in the moonlight. "They make you wear this, like you were some kind of pet. Like you were something less than they are."
"Siri-"
"No!" Sirius squeezed him tighter and pressed chilled lips against his neck. "They do all of that to you and still.. Still! You go out on nights like these and protect them. You go out there and risk your life for people who hate you. While I stay here and curse them and sometimes you, too, as I wait and worry and wonder if this is the night you don't come back. If this is the night that I lose you. You're a werewolf, but you're not immortal. Let the vampires have them. They deserve it."
"Did James and Lily deserve such a death? Does Harry? Hermione, Ron, bloody hell, Sirius... Not even the Malfoys deserve such a fate as Snape's."
Both fell silent again as they remembered their former classmate. A boy neither of them had particularly liked, but one they'd both respected. Caught outside on such a night, he hadn't been granted a swift death. Instead, he'd become a plaything to the worst of all the vampires - Voldermort. When Remus had found him during a slayers' raid one day, he'd begged to be staked, to be released from his hell. Remus was still haunted by the memory in full crystal clarity though years had passed, the curse of a werewolf's perfect recall.
"I just..." Weary hand gestures replaced words as Sirius, rarely at loss for words, lost the will to express his further protests. Remus knew that the very idea of his godson falling prey to the vampires terrified Sirius even more than watching him walk out the door every night. As a werewolf with slayer training, Remus was hardly easy prey for any vampire. Harry was still just a boy. One who was taking his own slayer training far more seriously than any other student who'd ever apprenticed, but still... just a boy. "I'm..."
When Sirius could do no more than shrug helplessly, dark eyes conveying fear and worry and hatred at his own helplessness, Remus softened and pulled the other man close, careful to be gentle. With the full moon only days away, he worried about underestimating his wolf-enhanced strength and causing more harm than good. Sirius went willingly. His fear cut at his pride, but it was something that wouldn't be denied. The night James and Lily Potter had died had left it's scars on the man, mental and physical.
"It'll be all right, Siri. Have faith."
"Promise me you'll be here in the morning, that you'll survive the night and the hunt. Promise me and I'll believe you." The words were muffled against his shoulder, but Remus had no trouble hearing or understanding. Even if they'd been silent, he would have known.
It was the same thing Sirius always asked when the moment came for Remus to go.
Unconciously, his grip tightened. How he hated vampires. Sirius was wrong about his motives for being a slayer. As much as to protect those he loved, Remus went out on nights like these for revenge. Revenge for the loss of his dear friends, revenge for little Harry who'd lost his innocence while still a babe, revenge for Snape who he hadn't liked but who'd deserved a kinder fate than he'd been given. And above all... revenge for the damage they'd done to this man, the one closest to his heart, the one he loved with every fiber of his being.
He'd kill them all, one vampire at a time.
"I will. Once a werewolf has your scent, you can't get rid of him."
A shadow of genuine humor lurked in the small smile that graced Sirius' face as his own voice chimed in with the oft-used saying. "Good. I was worried those days of poor grooming would go to waste."
Rolling his eyes, Remus turned around and shouldered his hunting pack. "Don't blame your bathing habits - or lack thereof - on me. I've seen dogs easier to bathe."
"I think I'd make a very nice dog."
"Probably." He fingered the stakes hidden along the inner lining of his coat before looking up with a grin. "Sadly, I'll just have to make do with the mangy human version, unless you know some magic spell to transform yourself into one."
"Bowwow."
All joking was pushed aside once Remus determined that he was ready. "Siri... Bar the doors once I'm gone. You're not the only one who worries on nights like these, you know."
"I know." They shared a brief kiss and then Sirius was pushing him away, looking down and fussing with his collar, trying not to let Remus see that there were tears in his eyes. As if the werewolf couldn't smell them. "Good hunting and all that nonsense."
"See you in the morning, Siri." He wanted to tell the other man how much he loved him, but in all the years they'd been doing this, those words had always been saved until morning. Until he'd fulfilled his promise and returned safely with another night of vampire hunting behind him. It was their own personal safeguard against fate. Because they both knew Remus would never allow himself to die without being able to say it one last time.
"Be safe, you silly goose."
"Get some sleep, Siri. Try not to wait up." The gentle chiding was acknowledged with a sheepish smile. They both knew he would anyways.
A final kiss and the slayer let himself out into the freezing night air, leaving a silent promise and watchful eyes in a window behind.
The End