(Forgive me for the lack of a good title, and thanks so much for the reviews! You have no idea how much I look forward to those. You guys are awesome! Soundtrack for the Chapter: Incubus – Anna Molly)
(Second Day of January – Year Two)
Death-Eater-in-a-Box
"My head feels like it is being tap-danced upon by ravaging hippogriffs…" Sirius moaned. He was apparently still recovering from his bacchanalian antics two nights before.
Remus gave a tense sigh, snapping tersely. "This is not a good time to be complaining, Sirius."
And it certainly wasn't.
They were about to sabotage a Death Eater attack on a wizarding merchant station along the Thames. It was nearly ten at night, but this was London. They would have to be careful with every move they made; if any Muggles got implicated in this, it could turn deadly. This was the first real bit of action Dumbledore had sent them on. Remus didn't think they could afford to let it go wrong.
Dumbledore had gotten information from one of his sources, and an "anonymous tipper" had left a warning for the workers of the building. Needless to say, they were long gone. Instead, about ten armed Order members would be waiting.
The building had a wide first floor, where the rows of packages sat, arranged like disorganized tombstones in an ancient, filled graveyard, waiting to be exported or newly imported. Stacked atop of it, with stairways at either end, were various four floors of narrow hallways. It wasn't ideal for alerting others easily, but the signal was red sparks in the stairwells, regardless.
Remus and Sirius themselves were placed along the second floor, a home for contraband objects that, in fact, were considered too dangerous to get through wizarding customs. They were patrolling the main hallway, which was lined with doors of all shapes and sizes.
Sirius peered in through a small star-shaped window of a small, wooden door. "Look, Remus! A whole roomful of top hats! I wonder what's wrong with those… I dare you to break in and put one on."
Normally, Remus would have let such things go. Sirius was one of his best friends, after all. He had been helping them create mischief since the beginning, and they had always been there for him. But tonight he was tense, and Sirius's playfulness was starting to get on his nerves.
Without meaning to sound so harsh, he quipped, "Sirius; be reasonable. This is our first mission; quit messing around."
Sirius nearly froze, turning a half-surprised, half-angry glance towards Remus. However, he was unable to retort, to Lupin's relief, because from down the hallway ran Marlene, out of breath, her dark waves frayed all about.
"Death Eaters! Loads of them! Dorcas and Caradoc are holding them off. No time for sparks; I just barely got away from them on the first floor-"
"Corpus postopos!" A voice hurled, freezing Marlene and sending her, whirling, into a surprised Sirius.
From the stairwell, three Death Eaters were erupting. Lupin wasted no time.
"Impedimenta!" He cried, slowing them down temporarily. He faced Sirius who was attempting to prop up Marlene. "Wait here with her- hide in one of these rooms or something! I'll go up the stairs and alert the others!"
Lupin dashed to the other end of the hallway, and sprinted up the stairs. He shot a stream of magnificent "Death Eaters on the first floor!"
Soon the stairwell was filled with magnificent red sparks, and from above his fellow Order Members flooded into the stairs.
Soon, James was with him, barking orders. Remus was glad he no longer had to play the job of leader. "We'll all head downstairs; Moony- fetch Marlene and Sirius again. Meet up on Floor One, and if it gets too dangerous, get out. Blue sparks for retreat."
Remus nodded and rushed back onto the second floor. Apparently his curse hadn't lasted long, because the three Death Eaters were back in business.
Marlene was able to move again, and it appeared as though she and Sirius were holding them off rather well. They were flinging top hats desperately towards the attackers.
"Cruc- Augh!" one of them was silenced as a top hat leeched onto his head and began to spin around in a munching, unpleasant way.
Sirius aimed a hat at another, hitting the Death Eater square in the chest. The hat sprouted tentacle-like arms, and in an instant had the Death Eater bound and squirming on the floor.
The final Death Eater was withstanding the hats, deflecting each one as it was tossed his way. Remus, who was now standing behind his comrades, aimed his wand. "Petrificus totalus!"
Distracted by the hats, their enemy was unable to block the curse. His arms snapped to his sides, and he fell straight back.
Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "And you thought those hats were useless, didn't you?"
Remus rolled his eyes, but could not disagree. "Good work. Everyone's gone to the first floor; we should help."
Marlene nodded, catching her breath. With a flick of her wand, the three immobile Death Eaters were sent into the top-hat room. "Moody and the Ministry can take them from there. Let's go."
The trio dashed down, and if they had thought the top hat scenario of the second floor was chaotic, it was nothing compared to the battles occurring down here.
Parcels and packages had tumbled down from their piles. Spells were being shot from every direction, and about three live chickens were even fluttering about the vicinity. It was almost impossible to tell who was a Death Eater and who was an Order member in the darkness that the floor had plunged into.
The three of them shared a moment to register the scene, and dashed into the madness. Remus ran alongside Sirius, ducking and dodging spells as he allowed his eyes to adjust.
In one row of packages, he saw Peter and Benjy fighting off one huge Death Eater. Sirius shot a quick hex at him, but Remus couldn't tell whether he was hit or not. To his right, Dorcas was frantically trying to escape two more. Marlene rushed to her side, urging Remus and Sirius to help the others.
Lupin's mind was in a flurry. He didn't know where to go, or who to help. Everyone seemed to be in a bad spot.
"Crucio!" A voice beside him yelled. Lupin ducked, but Sirius was hit. He was contorting and writhing in pain, his screams filling the night. Remus saw the Death Eater who aimed it, and pummeled into him, causing him to lose his focus. Sirius's screams ceased, but now Remus was tangled with the Death Eater.
"Impedimenta!" Remus fired, but it just missed the Death Eater by an inch.
"Is that all you people use, Lupin?" Hissed the Death Eater, whose voice was familiar. "You're never going to get very far without using some Unforgiveables! Allow me to demonstrate. Cruc-"
This time, Sirius knocked into the Death Eater before the curse could be finished. He held him at wand point, and Lupin joined in.
"Thanks," Sirius nodded towards Lupin. "For before…"
"Likewise, my friend. Now who do we have here?" Lupin flicked his wand, and the Death Eater's hood fell back.
Sirius let out a growl. It was their good old friend from Hogwarts; it was Severus Snape. Lupin's brow furrowed. He had suspected that some of their classmates had been coerced by Voldemort, just as they had been recruited for the Order. He should have expected Snape, practically their mortal enemy, to be on the bad side, but Lupin was the one out of the group of friends who had never suspected Severus as being capable of too much damage.
Perhaps he had been wrong.
"Well, Snivellus, where are your big, bad curses to save you now?" Sirius had a madman's glint in his eye. "Perhaps, Moony, we should teach him a lesson he'll never forget about his curses. In fact, we could teach him a lesson that would be almost deathly unforgettable."
Lupin's veins grew cold. He knew what his friend was suggesting. Sirius hated Severus perhaps more than any other, but Dumbledore had discouraged killing unless it was absolutely necessary. The two of them had Snape at wandpoint; it would hardly be a move of self-defense.
Both Sirius and Snape were waiting for his reply; Sirius in a goading anger, and Snape in smugness.
"Go ahead, Lupin," Snape spurred. "Go ahead and kill me. I dare you."
A part of Remus flared. Severus was asking for it; Severus deserved it. But Remus shook his head. His logic knew better. "We're not killers, Sirius. We're above it. Save him for Azkaban."
Sirius began to argue, looking at Remus in anguished shock, but was interrupted by their captive. "I always knew you never had the same guts as your friends, Lupin. Always trying to follow the rules, while looking the other way as they would break them."
"Look the other way, then, Remus." Sirius's words were harsh, and then directed to Snape. "I'm not above killing you."
Before Remus could protest, and thankfully before Sirius could raise a wand, a spiral of blue sparks was being emitted up into the air. The retreat signal.
The pair shot a stinging hex and a body bind curse at Snape simultaneously, blasting him into a nearby opened box that had fallen. They ran to meet up with their comrades.
The place was in havoc. Death Eaters were making a mad attempt to ensnare the Order Members, as the Order Members rushed together.
Dorcas was bleeding badly from the arm, and Caradoc was wincing in pain. Benjy seemed barely conscious. Lily was yelling at James, and Peter looked as though he had received the bad end of a knee-switching hex.
"Go! Go!" James ordered them all. "Disapparate out of here! Don't come back, no matter what! We're done here! Go!"
Pop! Pop! Pop! They started to leave in a flurry. As Remus began to fade out, he saw a Death Eater come up behind James. Lily stopped trying to Disapparate, and was desperately fighting. James got away for a moment, and Lupin saw him aim his wand at Lily before sliding her to the side and tossing a silvery sheet atop of her. It appeared the Death Eaters hadn't seen her disappear under the Invisibility Cloak, but another one caught up to James.
Remus fought to stay and help fight with his friend, but it was already too late. His particles were moving about in the dizzying, nauseating way, and he landed beside Sirius in the Order Headquarters. A moment passed as everyone caught their breath.
"Where's Lily and James?" Sirius soon demanded. "You were the last to arrive- where are they?"
Remus shook his head, barely able to speak. "They're still there… James froze her and hid her under the cloak. I think they caught him."
"We have to go back then!" Sirius declared.
Marlene shook her head. "What we have to do is get this lot to St. Mungo's or to Dumbledore or… or to somewhere. You heard what James said. No going back."
Remus sat down, unable to clear his mind. What were they supposed to do? He wanted to go back as much as Sirius, but it would just be the two of them. Everyone else was too injured; they had lost. They would be outnumbered beyond reason, and the Order would lose two more members…
No, the Order wasn't going to lose Lily and James. They weren't going to lose Lily and James.
Remus's logic was once again at battle with his heart. Once again, perhaps for the worse, his logic had won.
Sirius was arguing with Marlene, but when she pointed out their wounded comrades… He sighed, and eyed Remus. "If anything happens to James or Lily…"
Remus tried to summon up some positivity, but his words came out rather bleak. "Lily and James know what they're doing. If anyone can get caught, and can manage to escape with their lives, it's Lily and James…"
