A/N Thanks to everybody that's reviewed, favourited and followed. I really appreciate it.
Remus stepped up to the bar warily, he'd only been in here with his friends before but never alone. He shook himself and tried to look more confident, if he looked scared he was sure to attract trouble.
He perched himself resignedly on a stool at the far edge of the bar. He looked round, this probably wasn't his most brilliant idea, but the pain his friends had brought him boiled around inside and so he persisted nevertheless.
The bar-man made his way over to him slowly. He was a tall, thin man with a large amount of grey hair that mixed seamlessly with his equally long grey beard, his small eyes were magnified behind the glasses perched on his nose.
"Wha' can I get ya?" he growled. Remus' mind came a blank. Thinking quickly he came up with a list of drinks. Butterbeer? No that was for underage wizards. Gillywater? He had no idea if that was alcoholic. Fire Whiskey? Yes! He'd never tried it but Sirius always talked about it.
"Fire-whiskey," he said in a low grumble. The bar man nodded and walked off to pour Remus' drink. When he came back Remus slid two galleons across to him and thanked him quietly.
Remus eyed the amber liquid. It didn't look that special and it wasn't a very big measure. He frowned and took and tentative sip making sure nobody was watching. He swished the drink around his mouth a while. It was quite pleasant. Slowly heat began to build in his mouth, but not unbearably so, it was strangely soothing.
He swallowed and as he did so his eyes widened. The pleasant, warm liquid had just done a u-turn and turned into fiery magma rolling down his throat. His eyes watered and he clenched them shut, suppressing the urge to gasp, or stand up and demand water. That would probably draw attention to him. So he suffered quietly until the burning passed, and the feeling was replaced with something entirely different. He felt relaxed now and back to the warm soothing state of before.
He looked at the remainder of his drink suspiciously. He liked two out of three parts of drinking it. He shrugged and swallowed the remainder of the drink. Two out of three ain't bad he thought absently readying himself for the throat burning to begin once again.
He'd been in the bar about an hour and had consumed three glasses of fire-whiskey, and then proceeded to drink another three glasses of gillywater - after it was recommended by the bar man. Apparently he was worried about Remus' florid complexion.
Remus had to agree as he put down the empty glass he did feel more refreshed now. He leant forward and put his head against one of his hands, closing his eyes trying to think of a way he could have misunderstood things that had occurred at school. Nothing came to him and he sighed loudly, dropping his forehead onto the bar.
He felt somebody sit down next to him and looked up. The man was dressed in a long black cloak, his hair was dark and pulled back into a messy ponytail and his dark eyes sparkled warmly. He smiled down at Remus who simply pulled his head up to rest on his arms again.
"A fire-whiskey for me and another for this fine man here, he looks as if he needs it," grinned the man looking over at the bar-man. The bar-man looked over at Remus questioningly, Remus nodded slowly. It would save him the money anyway. The man seemed friendly enough.
As the glasses were put before them the man snatched his up and gulped it down, thumping it on the bar heartily. Remus stared morosely at his own swirling drink.
"What's wrong?" the man said to him, more quietly this time. Remus turned his head to look at him and found the man looked concerned.
"My friends," Remus said bitterness creeping in to the last word and he sighed loudly. The man frowned and patted Remus on the back.
"Well in that case drink up. I'll buy for the rest of the night," chuckled the man, now in thoroughly high spirits.
The man's laughter was contagious and Remus soon found himself on his sixth glass of fire-whiskey and swilling it down as if it was merely pumpkin juice. Throughout their merriment the man introduced himself as Derrick, and Remus told him his name in response.
As the sky darkened steadily Remus began feeling decidedly unsteady.
"Wha' time is it?" he slurred grasping on to the edge of the bar to stay upright.
"Half past ten," Derrick said cheerily, holding on to Remus' elbow as he got down off his stool clumsily.
"I need to get back," Remus continued stumbling out of the bar slowly with Derrick following close behind him. Remus swayed as he stood outside, he was red hot, and his vision was very blurry. He made to lean against the wall, missed and slumped to the floor.
"I'm so done for," murmured Remus, Derrick joined him on the floor and stared at confusedly.
"Why?" he muttered after a while.
"Because..." Remus started loudly "I'm seventeen years old and need to get back to school," he finished on a much quieter note.
Derrick was startled to begin with but slowly began nodding his head in understanding. He got up roughly,
"Well then we'll take a detour through the woods to help you sober up," he smiled at Remus happily before holding out his arm to help him up. Remus grasped it gratefully, and accepted the invitation. He really needed to sober up if he was going to get back to his dormitory unseen, after hours.
Slowly but surely they made there way out of the small town and headed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. The edge of the forest came into view gradually, it seemed to Remus to have taken at least an hour. His drunkenness and his lycanthropy were not taking well to this new situation. Remus vowed he would never get drunk directly after a full moon again.
They plunged into the forest. It was extremely dark inside and Remus and Derrick pulled out their wands.
"Luminos...lumi...lumisnos," Remus babbled uselessly, flicking his wand out with every word. He growled with frustration and saw Derrick leering at him, his wand already lit.
"Here," muttered Derrick holding out his hand for Remus' wand. Remus passed it to him and watched.
"Lumos," Derrick said loudly and confidently. Funny Remus thought he doesn't sound as drunk as before.
They carried on walking through the forest carefully, they had at least another half hour of walking in front of them to get them to edge of the forest in Hogwarts grounds. Remus looked upwards and saw the trees swaying slightly in the breeze, he quickly gave that up as nausea crept up on him.
"I need to rest a while here," groaned Derrick sitting down against a tree. Remus sighed impatiently and sat down next to him. The drink still blurred his thoughts for him to think clearly, form words and see properly. He'd really made a mess of himself.
"So Mr Lupin...do you still think it's not fair?" sneered Derrick.
Remus frowned. Something about that didn't seem right. He'd heard that somewhere before, and had he told Derrick his last name? Slowly...too slowly...realisation hit him and he gazed at Derrick, his eyes widening steadily.
Remus opened his mouth to make a sound but suddenly a blast of bright light surrounded him. Remus squinted. There were about twelve Death Eaters surrounding him with their wands lit. Derrick had pushed himself up and stood over Remus. Remus raised his wand to defend himself but what could he do realistically against thirteen fully grown wizards?
"Supefy...stufepy..." he said quickly pointing his wand at various Death Eaters. A quiet laughter came from them, they were mocking him. Suddenly a rough hand grabbed his robe and pulled him mercilessly to his feet.
"Your drunken words are useless," Derrick growled in his ear. Remus froze, he knew that voice. The man from Hogsmeade.
Remus wrenched him arm free and spun round. He scrambled through the forest blindly. He didn't know where he was going he just knew he had to get away. He could hear the Death Eaters chasing him and he saw a few curses explode on nearby trees.
He was privately proud of himself for managing not to fall over yet considering the amount of alcohol he'd consumed. Suddenly he felt something catch on his ankle and he flew forward spectacularly, crashing painfully on his shoulder.
He turned over quickly just in time to see Derrick approaching him.
He was trapped.
"Trip jinx," shrugged Derrick grinning down at him.
"Incarcerous!" one of the Death Eaters yelled, and thin cords wrapped tightly around Remus binding him. Derrick pulled him roughly to his feet again and stepped behind him, taking Remus' wand away in the process. The Death Eaters formed another circle around them.
"You...you tricked me," Remus said quietly, tilting his head back to look at Derrick.
"Me? Oh no. I never lured you out into Hogsmeade I simply met you here. You started this and brought it on yourself," he hissed against Remus' cheek.
Remus' stomach dropped. Derrick was right.
"My...my friends...they'll..." stuttered Remus desperately.
"Ah yes your friends. The ones who started all this?" Derrick whispered in a menacing tone. Remus felt a tear slide down his cheek. Derrick was right again. Nobody was going to find him.
A glimmer of hope blossomed in his mind unexpectedly. He wasn't far from Hogwarts, maybe if he shouted loud enough somebody would hear him and then he'd be discovered as missing. He took a deep breath in,
"HEL...!"
SMACK!
Remus' head snapped to the side. He blinked quickly, he felt really sick now. He focussed his eyes on the smaller Death Eater now stood in front of him, The one who'd just violently smacked him. He squinted, he recognised those eyes.
"Bel...Bellatrix?" he murmured. She grinned at him and removed her mask with a flourish.
"Hello Remus," she grinned maliciously before turning away and returning to her place.
"Enough talk," barked Derrick, he smacked a hand over Remus' mouth and pushed him forward. Remus struggled valiantly, he wasn't giving up without a fight. Without warning Derrick pushed Remus away from him and he landed harshly on the ground.
Remus turned himself over with difficulty to see what was going on. Had somebody heard him and come to help him? No. He was alone here.
"This is ridiculous I can't carry him there," Derrick complained rubbing his shin, where Remus assumed he'd managed to get a kick in. Derrick pointed his wand at Remus and he stiffened.
"Stupefy," he shouted. The last thing Remus saw was the red light shooting towards him.
A/N Please review :)
