So, after a few well received one shots I finally feel brave enough to post a chaptered fic that I've had pieces of wrote for a while. This fic was inspired by Pierrot The Clown by Placebo, a beautiful song from an incredible band. I really hope you enjoy this fic, and think you should know that reviews are my heroin... you should understand that little pun in later chapters but I'll shut up now before I reveal too much.


Chapter One - Attacked

Sirius Black didn't usually expect knocks on his door at midnight, especially not now in his less wilder days, the days where such occurrences were something to treat with caution, and so on the first night of November when he heard the persistent rapping against the front door of his flat, he carried his wand with him as he went to answer it. He slid the chain back and opened up the door. "Moony?" He said after a few moments of peering in to the gloomy, drizzly night, "Is that you?"

Remus Lupin stepped forth from the shadows. At only nineteen years of age, Remus often looked more rough around the edges than he should of, and as Sirius stepped back to let his friend in to the hall he saw that tonight this feature was only more pronounced. Remus's slightly shabby cloak was hanging lopsidedly from his slender shoulders and his pale hair hung over his face, where Sirius could see a swollen eye forming and a thick lip trickling blood down Remus's chin.

"What in the name of Merlin happened to you?" Sirius cried, looking out in to the night suspiciously before locking up the door again, "Sorry to say it mate but you look a right state."

"I was jumped," Remus croaked, "I was a few streets away when they appeared from behind a group of dust bins."

As Sirius watched Remus walk down the hall and welcome himself in to the little living room he noticed that he walked with a limp. Sirius went to the kitchen and gathered two glasses and a bottle of gin, which he enchanted to float through the air in front of him, landing themselves neatly on his coffee table. "And who would they be?" Sirius said as he poured out the drinks with a few flicks of his wand.

"There was two of them. Both men. I think they used to be two years above us in school... I can't be sure. It all happened too quickly for me to notice much," Remus sighed as he accepted his drink.

"They didn't... They didn't use the Cruciatus curse on you, did they?" Sirius asked, adopting a softer tone. The two of them sat down on Sirius' sagging sofa. Remus kept his eyes set on his glass, swilling the gin around before taking a few sips.

"No. They seemed to forget that they were wizards for the moment, thank God," Remus said, and Sirius caught a glance of a bitter smile flitting across his face, then it abruptly disappeared as he added, "They know what I am. They know that I'm a lycanthrope."

Remus always used the logical term for things, he had always been the more well spoken, bookish one in his group of freinds. He hardly ever referred to himself as a "werewolf". Sirius privately thought that this was because the word was like poison to Remus.

"The bastards," Sirius spat, now angry as the state of the situation set in, "Who were they, Remus? I'm going to go out there and rip their fucking heads off."

Again the bitter smile appeared on Remus's face. He shook his head. "No, I don't want you going after them," He said firmly, "You'll just get yourself in to trouble. They aren't worth it."

"Are you joking?" Sirius said, "You're actually telling me that you're comfortable with letting them getting away with this? Look at you, Remus! No, I won't have it. I'm going to send an owl off to James right now. He can come down here and we'll get this sorted."

"I said no, Sirius. What's done is done, hurting them won't take away my bruises. I'd much rather forget anything ever happened, if you don't mind," Remus muttered.

Sirius paused. Maybe Remus was right. James would only encourage Sirius, making him angrier than he already was, and nothing good ever came out of Sirius being angry.

"Fine," He said, "Still, I'm going to write to James anyway."

"No!" Remus cried, for the third time that night, and now Sirius could see the desperation in his amber eyes, "I don't want anyone to know about this, Sirius. Not James. Not Peter. Not Lily. No one."

Sirius hesitated then finally he nodded. He understood that Remus's pride and dignity hung in the balance. If Remus wanted to forget about it, then so would he. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, finishing off their drinks. Then Sirius said, "Want me to get rid of those marks for you?"

"Er, thanks but no thanks, Sirius. I think I'll go to St. Mungo's tomorrow, see a Healer," Remus said quickly. He smiled at Sirius, who grinned back. They were both remembering the time in the second year when Sirius had attempted to fix a paper cut that Remus had contracted in the library. The result had almost left him seriously maimed. Remus would have been fingerless if he hadn't of got to the hospital wing in time.

"Sirius, do you mind if I stay the night? I don't really fancy my chances going back home," Remus said, going a little pink.

"Of course. Stay as long as you like," Sirius said, "I think I'll go to bed myself, actually, if you're alright here. But just one question, why on Earth didn't you just Apparate here to see me?"

"I always take the chance to walk at night when I can. I miss being a free man," Remus said, his mouth twitching in to a slightly embarased smile. Sirius grinned.

"Always so sentimental, Moony. You mad fucker," He said, then he yawned, "Right, I'm off to bed."

Remus nodded. Sirius stood up and began to clear away the glasses, but Remus stopped him. "Actually Sirius you can keep the gin here," He said. Sirius raised his eyebrows but left the bottle without question.