Remus groaned in pain as he stumbled from tree to tree, blood poured from the deep wound in his side but he knew that he had to move and keep moving. Semi-human cries echoed through the wood behind him and he knew that the hunt had started, his hand gripped tighter around his conquest praying that he could make it far enough away from the base camp to apparate in safety.

He was losing too much blood and with it his strength but it wasn't far now, he could see the clearing where the shield ended, the smell of blood and earth all around him made him feel nauseous and he saw the ground coming towards him before he felt himself falling. With all the will he could muster Remus thought of the grimy building fronts and dilapidated wrought iron fences that made up Grimauld Place.

He felt the suffocating pressure of the apparition working and almost laughed with joy as his face hit the concrete, he began to black out as the figure of Severus Snape came into his peripheral vision, "More trouble than you're worth, Lupin."

Blackness followed, horrible images flashed before his eyes which he wished could have been a bad dream caused by his illness but he knew that they were images from earlier in the night. Creeping into the squalid burrow which Fenrir Greyback called home and lifting his shabby, bloodstained notebook – the one which contained the list of victims as detailed by Voldemort himself, Greyback had made his own additions at the end of the book – muggle children. He hadn't seen her come in until it was too late; Greyback's mate Ylva, the strongest and most vicious female in his ranks. She had flown at him, teeth and claws finding his side and instantly gouging a hole, he hadn't meant to kill her even though he knew that he would have had to. The image of her prone body lying on the ground with blood gushing from a significant head wound was the one he was left with as he was revived to see the concerned faces of Dumbledore and Sirius set against a background of the kitchen ceiling.

"I got it." he said weakly trying to push himself up by the elbows and failing.

Dumbledore hushed him and smiled, "You did well, but you're badly injured, out of action for a few days at least, Remus."

The words were music to his ears, a few days of sleeping in a bed, of bathing and eating cooked food. This was cause to celebrate, "Do you have any chocolate?"

He saw Sirius smile and look around the room with wide questioning eyes before his smile became a proper wide grin and a small pale hand placed four squares of Honeydukes dark chocolate into Sirius' hand.

"Moony, you did a great job tonight; you've saved hundreds from a terrible fate." Yet another cheeky grin appeared on his face, "And you managed to scare the wits out of our new pledge."

"Yes, and I do believe that he could do with a rest." Dumbledore said firmly, Remus felt himself being lifted off of the table by magical means and closed his eyes with fatigue. He remembered his apprehension when the order had come through from Dumbledore via Snape that he was no longer just a spy he was now to turn thief.

"Dumbledore wishes that you steal Fenrir's list." Snape had said. Remus had seen in his eyes obvious amusement at his bedraggled state; those cold dark hollows lingering over his ripped trousers, the mud caked in his hairline and over his face which had been washed away in streaks which were very obviously the path of tears over his face.

"Anything else?" Remus had asked simply in response straightening his back trying to retain some pride.

Snape half turned, "Only that is has to be taken before the next full moon."

Remus had nodded and retreated back into the secrecy of the woods towards the series of hovels and burrows that he had been forced to call home recently. Fenrir was waiting for him. He had his steely gaze fixed upon Lupin intently before he had pounced; long legs working like springs propelling himself full force into Lupin's chest knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing to the ground.

"You've been talking to a wizard, Blaez saw you." He had growled, his pointed teeth glistening with saliva inches from Lupins face, long fingers with thick yellowing nails had closed around his face and Greyback turned it to face a young boy who was sitting on his haunches grinning, pleased with himself gnawing on what looked like a rabbits foot.

Blaez, just one of the many 'cubs' which Fenrir had sired, part of the werewolf aristocracy which was emerging, children born from two vicious werewolf parents were given preferential treatment over those who were bitten from wizarding families – their very own version of pure blood mania.

"WELL!" Remus could vividly remember the smell of the rotting meat which clung to Greyback's teeth, the flecks of spit that hit his face while the giant man pressed his claw like fingernails into his neck painfully, "WHAT WAS HIS NAME?"

Remus had told him that it was Severus Snape, Voldemort's current right hand man and suddenly Greyback had been more intent on making Lupin a close friend rather than an enemy, or lunch. He had shared with Lupin his plans to take all of the children from the remote village of Gartochan, muggle children who would have no choice but to stay with the pack.

With three days to go until the full moon Lupin had chosen his moment perfectly to break into Fenrir's rooms, the women had returned with the carcasses of several red deer and the whole pack was busy arranging themselves into the appropriate pecking order, it was then that Lupin had snuck off.

He squeezed his eyes tighter pushing that memory from his mind for as long as possible, he felt himself being placed into a bed and muffled voices around him quietened down until there was only one.

"Moony, it's Padfoot." Sirius said gently, "We put you in my room for now; it's got the cleanest sheets." Remus tried to smile; there was something funny about Sirius discussing household cleanliness.

"Thank you." His normally hoarse voice sounded surprisingly frailer than he had imagined it would, he opened his eyes a crack and saw Sirius looking over his wounds with concerned eyes.

"Just keep resting, get your strength up and you'll be back rolling around in the mud before you know it." Sirius' smile didn't quite convince him and he closed his eyes again, reassuring himself that ignorance was indeed bliss. "I'll be sleeping here on the floor, howl if you need me."

"Very funny, Padfoot." He croaked letting his mind wander back to the kitchen when those four tantalising squares of chocolate had been pressed gently into the palm of Sirius' hand, "Chocolate?"

Remus heard Sirius move in the dark and licked his lips in anticipation, it had been weeks since he had even seen chocolate, "Sorry, Moony, nil by mouth for the next two days."

Remus could tell this would be a long weekend.