Chapter 20

A sudden need to protect hit the pit of Remus' stomach. He snapped his eyes opened, suddenly feeling very urgent to find his cub. His eyes widened when he recognized the feeling. He felt it before, many times. He felt it fifteen years ago, five years ago, four years ago, two years ago, last year, this summer. He felt it when Harry faced Voldemort as a baby, when he faced him again the end of his first year, when he went into the Chamber of Secrets in his second year, the whole time he was in the Tournament in his fourth year, when he went into the Department of Mysteries last year, and when he was beaten close to death at the hands of his uncle this past summer. Harry, right now, was in danger. He needed him!

Remus lifted his body up by his shaky arms. He was breathing very heavily, but he couldn't let that stop him. His cub needed him, now, not later. He must rely on strength he didn't know he had to get him through this. Adrenaline rush made it possible for him to stand up, although his legs were shaky. He leaned against the wall and walked along it to where he remembered the door to be. It was still hard to see. His left eye was swollen shut and there was a cut right above his other eye, which had bled into his eye and dried. Each step he took a sharp pain rushed up his body from his twisted left foot. His side burned each time he moved.

He fell against the door, leaning on it in a brief moment of rest. His head felt the cool metal door. It felt good for his spiking fever. He tried the door, but it was unsurprisingly locked. "No." He moaned. A very faint pain deep in his gut startled him. He knew the pain didn't come from his wounds. Someone was hurting his cub. Angry, frustrated, and worried for his cub, Remus' fist clenched the doorknob and he pulled with all his might, ignoring the pain it had brought. The knob broke away from the door and the metal door swung opened. He continued to lean against the wall, breathing heavily in exhaustion. His arm muscles hurt like he had overused them. He groaned in pain. He shook his dizziness away and stepped out of his cell. There weren't any Death Eaters around, much to his confusion and relief. He didn't think he could handle a fight at all, not in his condition. He made his way slowly down the hallway, once again using the wall for support. The rough wall scrapped his hand up, but, without its support, he would be crawling instead.

His foot hit something rough, making him slip. Remus landed on a set of stairs made out of stone. He twisted his arm when he landed on it, while he was trying to catch himself.. "Ahh!" He yelled in pain. He rolled over to his side, gasping for breath, trying to ignore his pain in favor of getting to his son. With one arm out of commission, Remus had to rely on his other arm, as he slowly crawled up the steps. He hissed in pain when an edge of a step scrapped his burned side. He looked up the steps, trying to see the end through his useless eyes. He paused half way there to momentarily rest. He heard running footsteps above him and sighed in defeat. There was nothing he can do. He did not have the strength to fight and there was no place to hide. He was lying in the middle of the steps, an open target. 'But I have to save my cub, my son!' His mind protested. With one arm, he tried to sit up, groaning in pain the entire time. He didn't have a wand on him, but there was a few wandless spells he knew. It would take all of the strength he had now, but he had to try. He had to try for Harry.

"Lupin! Professor Lupin!" He heard a familiar voice call out from somewhere above him. Footsteps started to run down the stairs towards him.

Remus relaxed his tensed body. The voice was young and familiar. He knew the boy wouldn't hurt him. He felt someone knelt down next to him. "Professor?"

He tried to see through his blood coated eye, but could only make out the hair color. Platinum blond. "Draco? Draco Malfoy?" He crocked out. His voice hoarse from his screams when he was being tortured. He coughed.

"Yes. I got water, professor. I'm going to tip your head back to clean out that eye of yours. Close your eyes." Draco warned.

Remus flinched when he felt the young Slytherin's hands on his forehead. His head was tilted back. He bit back a relived sigh at the feeling of the cool water on his face. It felt so good and refreshing. He winced when Draco started to wipe around his eye with a handkerchief, cleaning the blood away. No matter how gentle Draco was trying to be, it still hurt. It was like a pulsing pain down his face every time the cloth touched anywhere around his eye. Draco stepped back, finished. "Better?"

Remus was able to open the one eye now, seeing the sixteen-year-old Slytherin kneeling in front of him. He nodded, the movement making him a slight dizzy. "H—Harry?" He started to cough again, not realizing he was coughing up blood.

Draco winced at the sight. "Let's get you up first, Lupin." He settled himself side-to-side next to his Defense professor and wrapped the professor's arm around his shoulders for support. He wrapped his own arm around Remus' back and lifted him up. "Merlin, Lupin, you must weigh not even seventy kilograms." With Draco's help, they slowly made their way up the stairs.

"Harry?" Remus asked again.

"He got himself in a bit of trouble, professor. Fenrir Greyback has him. Once I get you to safety, I'll…"

"No!" Remus growled angrily, sounding very much like his wolf animus. "Take me to them now." He ordered. "This has to end, now." He said softly, but dangerously.

Suddenly very much aware his Defense teacher was an angry and protective werewolf, Draco nodded, quickly doing as he was told. If he wanted to get himself killed, then Draco wasn't going to get in his way.

Remus couldn't stay focused on the twist and turns of the hallways. All he knew was he was finally on the upper levels. The house was decorated richly in silver, green, and black. Once and a while they would run into a red carpet or a dark blue couch. Finally, Draco had dragged him to an open dining room door. Remus caught Greyback's scent and growled. He shoved Draco away. "I'll distract him. You get Harry out." He ordered, leaving no room for argument. He braced himself against the doorframe and looked into the room. The table was pushed to the wall; its chairs broken, as if they were thrown at the wall above the table. Harry was on the ground by the table, a bruise was forming on his cheek and he was clutching his stomach. Greyback stood over him, his back facing Remus. He knew Remus was there. There was no way he didn't know. Remus growled in warning. "Greyback, let's finish this; just you and me."

Greyback laughed sardonically and turned to face him. "Really, Lupin? You can barely stand on your own two feet. How do you expect to defeat me?"

Remus breathed heavily, this time not sure if it was because of his pain or because he was trying to stay as calm as possible. "I challenge you, Fenrir Greyback."

Greyback's eyes gleamed with pleasure and he smiled arrogantly. "So be it. This should be a quickie. You don't really hope to win, do you, Lupin?" He asked rhetorically.

"Draco, get Harry out of the room and shut the door behind you." He ordered, sounding short-winded, without even look back at the Malfoy boy. "Lock it and under no circumstances reopen that door." Remus stumbled away from the doorframe, losing the support he had, but he remain standing. Although, it wasn't hard to see his legs shaking from the strain of holding his body up.

Greyback stepped away from Harry, eyeing Remus with pleasure, and Draco took that chance to rush over and hull him up. "Wait!" Harry protested breathlessly when Draco carried him out of the room. "Remus!" He yelled out before the door was closed and locked behind him.

Remus and Greyback stood facing each other. As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Greyback let out a roar and tackled Remus down, easily. Remus bit back his yell from the pain. He growled instead. "You messed with my cub! You should have known better, Greyback!" He growled at him before using all of his might to push the other werewolf off of him.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway the two boys still stood. Harry gasped for breath. That last punch in the stomach had knocked the wind out of him. He rounded on Malfoy. "Malfoy! What do you think you were doing? I thought you were going to take Remus to safety before coming back to get me! What are you doing leaving Remus in there by himself with Fenrir Greyback of all people?" He yelled. "We have to save him!" He rushed to door, but Malfoy stopped him.

"Think before you act, Potter, for once in your life! There's a freakin' werewolf battle going on in there! You know what that means, Potter?" He didn't wait for Harry to answer. "That means anyone close to that battle will become victims! During a werewolf challenge, their werewolf personality becomes dominate. Lupin might not attack you, on purpose that is, but Greyback most certainly will. There's nothing you can do! We'll just have to wait."

"But Remus would not survive that, Malfoy! He's too weak! Did you see him at all?" He argued back. He can hear the growling of the two werewolves in the room and, once and a while, he can hear the sound of a body hitting a wall. Once, a body was thrown into the door, making it shake violently. Harry cringed.

"You'll be amaze what a werewolf can do for the sake of their child, Potter." Malfoy said softly as he sat on the ground.

Harry had no choice but to sit down as well. He sat across from Malfoy. If he hadn't sat down, he would have been pacing. Instead, he bounced his feet and tapped his fingers on the ground, impatiently. "So, we're going to wait here? What if…" He swallowed, not really wanting to consider it, but knew he must. "…what if Greyback comes out?"

"My godfather should find us before then." Malfoy said.

"Your…your godfather?" Harry questioned.

Malfoy nodded. "I wasn't stupid to come here without backup. I left a note for my godfather. I told him where we were going and why. We'll get in trouble, no doubt, but I rather have many detentions then die."

"Who's your godfather?" Harry asked. He suspected who, but was hoping he was wrong. He glanced at the door, a bad feeling forming that the pit of his stomach. He had no idea how Remus was going to survive the fight. A loud growl startled him. He didn't know if it was Remus or Greyback, but he believed it must have been Greyback. The growl seemed too powerful to have been Remus, who was too weak to do much.

"Professor Snape is." Malfoy answered. Harry bit back a groaned. Great, now he would get expelled for sure. "He's keyed into the wards, so, he'll be able to enter. I told him to floo into my room, so he wouldn't get detected. He should be here already. Most likely looking for us."

They sat there for a few more minutes; the sound in the room seemed to increase much to Harry's and Malfoy's discomfort. Suddenly a sound from down the hall took Malfoy's attention from the door. "Draco! Mr. Potter!" A sharky voice came from down the hallway. Harry wasn't paying any more attention to what was going on. He was feeling sick to the stomach in worry for Remus. He stared at the door and hugged his knees to his chest. He didn't like waiting out here.

"Uncle Sev!" Harry didn't notice when Malfoy jumped up and ran to his godfather. Before Snape could uttered a single word, Malfoy started to tell him what happened. How Harry and him got out of Hogwarts and used the floo in the Three Broomsticks…how they briefly separated when they got to the house…how Malfoy saw Harry get caught by Greyback…how Harry yelled at him to find Remus…how bad Remus condition really was…all the way to the challenge between Remus and Greyback…

Snape glared at the two boys. "I'll punish you two later. Right now, you two are going back to Hogwarts this instant. You two are extremely lucky that the Dark Lord planned an attack in muggle London or this place would have been crawling with Death Eaters."

Harry snapped head up, catching the previous sentence. "But, sir, Remus! We can't leave him!"

Snape's glare turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, I will stay here, but you two are…" Suddenly, the noise in the room stopped after a loud yelp. The three of them froze and stared at the closed door.

"Remus…" Harry said, worriedly. He stood up quickly and was about to run to the door, but Snape grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his side.

"Stupid child! Get to Hogwarts, both of you! I'll deal with this matter." He looked behind him and snared at the two immobile children. "Now!"

Malfoy grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him away. "But…" Harry started to protest, wanting to make sure Remus was okay and alive.

"Uncle Sev would take care of it, Potter. We'll just get in the way. Let's not get into any more trouble than we are already."

"Professor Snape, Greyback has my wand." Harry called out to him as Malfoy pulled him down the hallway.

"I'll retrieve it, Potter. Now go!"

Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall were both waiting for them when they got back to Hogwarts. Neither of them looked particularly happy two of their students went off on their own rescue mission. It had looked like Professor McGonagall just rolled out of bed. Harry wasn't surprised it was, after all, almost two o'clock in the morning. McGonagall's hair was messy, she had no make-up on, a robe was thrown over her nightgown, and she looked very irritated. Dumbledore, on the other hand, had a robe over his nightgown and a nightcap on, but otherwise looked neat, as if it was the middle of the afternoon and not the middle of the night. McGonagall greeted them with a very short, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy" and, without saying another word, they ushered the two boys to the infirmary, much to Harry's displeasure. Madame Pomfrey wasn't too happy to see him either. However, she didn't look to surprise. As Madame Pomfrey examined them, Harry and Malfoy told their Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress what happened at Malfoy Manor.

"Clean bill of health, except Mr. Potter's bruises." Madame Pomfrey interrupted. "You are very lucky you survived a punch from Fenrir Greyback, Potter. He's been known to kill a person with a single punch."

Harry grimaced and nodded. "Thanks, Madame Pomfrey."

"You said Remus challenged Fenrir Greyback?" McGonagall questioned, bringing them back to the previous discussion. Harry couldn't help but notice McGonagall seemed flustered by the idea of Remus challenging Greyback. Harry nodded, eyeing his Transfiguration professor. McGonagall turned to Dumbledore, worriedly. "It wouldn't matter, would it, Albus? He wasn't a part of his pack."

Dumbledore nodded. "Fenrir Greyback was the one that bit him, Minerva. It counted. But we don't know anything as of yet. We'll have to wait for Severus to get back. But if Remus lived, then yes, Minerva, yes."

Much to Harry's annoyance, he couldn't quite follow along with their conversation, but he was afraid to ask. McGonagall didn't look too thrilled by whatever it was and he was already in a lot of trouble and didn't want to bring attention to himself. He looked over at Malfoy. Malfoy seemed to have been following along; at least, he didn't look confused, but Slytherin's were known for their expressionless mask; hiding their true emotions.

McGonagall turned back to the two boys. "For part of your punishment, you two shall remain here until told otherwise, with no visits from your friends." She said sternly. "Professor Snape, myself, and Professor Dumbledore will discuss your punishment in depth when Professor Snape gets back. Now, if you excuse me, I'm tired and would like to get some more sleep."

"I'll inform you when Severus returns, Minerva." Dumbledore promised. McGonagall nodded, acknowledging his promise, before leaving the infirmary. The Headmaster turned back to the boys. "Nothing farther I can say on the matter. So, good night, my boys." Dumbledore left the infirmary calling over his shoulders, "Sweet dreams!"

Madame Pomfrey stepped forward again, ushering them into bed. "Bed, now you two." Harry crawled under the covers into the bed besides Malfoy. Once she said good night to the boys, she returned to her office or quarters, Harry didn't know which. He waited until the door closed before turning to his side to face Malfoy. "Ummm…" He started to say awkwardly. Malfoy turned to face him, eyebrows raised in question. "…I guess I would just like to say…umm…thanks. Thanks for helping me. I still don't fully understand why, but thanks anyhow." Harry bit his lip. It was weird saying thanks to someone who had butted heads with him since day one. Malfoy had been his rival as soon as Harry refused to shake his hand back in first year. They never talked civilly since this year. It was odd to him. They were supposed to hate each other until they left Hogwarts, but Harry was not complaining. He didn't like have enemies nor did he like getting into fights.

"I hate the Dark Lord as much as the next person, Potter. He ruined the Malfoy's good name. I know the blame can't be place sorely on him, but he's the reason. You want to do something to bring him down…count me in…that is, if you're plan is thought through. I won't go on a suicide mission." Malfoy said.

Harry nodded. "Okay." There was a moment of silence before Harry spoke up again. "Do you know what McGonagall and Dumbledore were talking about earlier, when we mentioned Remus had challenged Greyback?" Malfoy shook his head. "Oh." Harry said, sounding disappointed. He had honestly wanted to know. He would just have to ask Hermione whenever he got out of the infirmary.

A few minutes earlier, back at Malfoy Minor, Severus Snape opened the door with his wand raised, showing caution when facing the unknown. He hoped for the Orders sake, Albus's sake, Potter's sake, and Lupin's sake that Lupin lived through this ordeal. Potter was very close to Lupin, so was Albus. If he was gone then there went the will to fight from both Potter and Albus…if that happened then there went the resistance. On the other hand, it might get Potter angry enough to fight with more passion. Down side of that; it could become an unhealthy obsession for revenge.

Lupin and Greyback were both lying on the ground. Greyback was closer to the door, on his back. Lupin was away from the door, faced down. It did not look well. From the bodies position, it looked like Greyback finished Lupin off, started to walk towards the door before collapsing on the ground. Severus had little hope that Lupin was still alive. According to the two foolish students, he was already close to death when he challenged and fought Greyback. He didn't think Lupin could have made it.

He made his way to the closest body; Greyback. Severus touched the side of his neck, feeling for a pulse. He waited a few seconds, but didn't feel anything. Greyback was dead. From the looks of it, his windpipe had been crushed. It was crushed in such a way that Greyback would have had a few seconds to live. It would have been harder and harder for him to breath at each breath. It still would have been enough time to kill Lupin before dying himself. So, Greyback's death gave no hope that Lupin was alive. Severus felt around Greyback's robes, looking for Potter's wand. He found it quickly and pocketed it. He then looked around his neck for the necklace activated portkey that Greyback used to get from Malfoy Manor back to his pack. Severus had to send the body to his pack before the Dark Lord tried to cover up how he truly died. He found the portkey and turned the knob. Greyback didn't have a wand, so the Dark Lord had to give him a portkey with a knob. It was either that or a voice activated portkey, Greyback preferred the one with the knob. Once the knob was turned, Severus quickly let go and watched as the body disappeared. "He'll no longer have the werewolves support." He said to himself. Some of the werewolves had trusted the Dark Lord to keep their Alpha protected. And now that Greyback was gone, the other werewolves weren't forced to join the Dark Lord. Many of them would leave for either of those two reasons. Even some of the lone wolves would leave the Dark Lord's services. The werewolves weren't marked. The Dark Lord wouldn't be able to trace them and kill them for leaving.

Severus made his way to Lupin. "You are an idiot, Lupin. What were you thinking challenging Greyback? You should know what that means, especially if you win and survive." He muttered as he knelt next to the body and turned him on his back. He gasped when he saw just how bloody and beaten Lupin was. He could hardly recognize him. It would actually be surprise if he was alive. Severus reached for his neck, ignoring the blood on getting on his fingers. He couldn't feel a pulse.