Rating of R

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Blood Chronicles

"...Greyback specializes in children...Bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards"
-Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 334

What if, when Remus Lupin was bitten, Greyback stole him off into the middle of the night. What if he was never found. What if he never went to Hogwarts and never met three people that could change his life forever. What if he met one of them. Six years too late. This is that what if story.

I'm sorry for any mistakes you may find. I know that they're there, so no need to point them out. The most I can do is apologize. This has not been beta read but I really wanted to get the chapter out so I'd thought I'd give it to you guys anyway.

Blood Chronicles

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"So let me get this straight..." Suspicion filled golden eyes observed the bronze bracelet that was being offered to him. "All I have to do is put this on..."

"And you can leave, yeah."

"Leave to-"

"Leave the room," Sirius corrected quickly. "But you still have to stay here."

Remus sighed are rubbed the back of his neck. "Why can't I just go? He's already done trying to get anything out of me. What use am I sitting here?"

"Because you're a," Sirius cleared his throat and made his voice a gruff impression of Moody's. "'Dangerous, blood thirsty mutt that tried to kill a whole school of innocent children and cannot be trusted.' Does that answer your question?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Innocent? Children I can understand...But innocent, please. Innocent my ass."

"I've always been innocent," Sirius said with a glare and mock offense. "Until I met James. He ruined me."

Remus snorted. "I don't think you've ever been innocent."

"If you doubt my innocence one more time I'll leave you in here."

"Big loss that would be," he muttered, but his eyes betrayed him and begged to get out of the tiny room he'd been confined to for so long.

"Alright," Sirius held the bracelet out and it snaked itself around Remus' wrist and closed with a crisp snap.

The werewolf jumped slightly and Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped it to the smooth surface once. For a second, it glowed bright blue and tightened its hold, then it changed to a dull gray and finally to its original copper color.

"I'm gonna tell you right now," he muttered and jerked his hand toward the ceiling. Remus followed his gaze until his eyes landed on a small black box nestled into the corner nearest to the door.

"This place is loaded," Sirius emphasized with wild hand gestures. "One wrong move and there'll be twenty people on you before you even have time to breathe. And they wont be nice about it. So let's do be good, okay?"

Remus rolled his eyes and offered no other response.

"I'll take that for a yes, then."

The door swung open and Remus bolted. He got a step past it before Sirius grabbed him firmly by the waist and hauled him back.

"Let me-"

"Relax, okay?"

Eyes darting around the corridor to take in the new surroundings, Remus followed Sirius down the short hallway and turned left.

"Where're we going?" He played with the cold metal encircling his wrist with bored fingers.

"Down to the hall.:

"Where's that?"

"Right here." Another door opened and Remus was now looking at what seemed to be used as some kind of meeting hall.

It was large and bare except for the two long tables that ran side by side, creating an isle way between them. They were completely empty except for two people who sat hunched over their card hand in the center of one of the tables. Remus looked up at Sirius wearily, hoping they weren't here to talk to the people seated at the table.

He swore silently as he was met with a grin and then dragged over to their spot at the table.

As they grew nearer, the two black and equally messy haired men arched their necks to inspect the new comers. Remus had to hold back a growl when he saw that one of them was James. Quickly, his gaze jumped to the other man, who he guessed to be James' father. They looked nearly identical except James didn't have the telling age lines tight around his mouth and eyes.

Even thinking the word 'father' left a bitter taste in his mouth as if it were a filthy swear word.

James folded his hand of cards and set them down on the table

"You fold, I win," the other man said, throwing his cards down and grinning.

"No you don't. Shut up, Dad. I'm just...putting it on pause," James chuckled.

Remus looked over to James' dad, waiting for the yelling and punishment to come. He was shocked when the older man laughed along with his son.

If he'd...Well, first of all, he wouldn't be caught dead playing cards with Greyback.

"Is that even legal?"

"Dunno, but I am anyway-"

Sirius cleared his throat to break up their private conversation. James shot him a sheepish grin.

"We'll finish this later, old man."

"Old man? Who're you calling 'old man', shrimp?"

"You-"

Both Sirius and Remus exchanged a long look.

"Hi Harold, 'lo Jim," the grim Animagus said loudly, making sure they both could hear him over their own bickering.

"Hi, Pads," James' hazel eyes narrowed on Remus, but he didn't offer any kind of greeting.

Remus shook his head. "That's not nice, didn't your parents teach you any manners on how to greet a person?"

"They did," James snapped. "But the key word there being person."

A wolfish grin spread across Remus' face.

"So, you're the Remus Lupin I keep hearing a lot about."

Harold was answered with an icy glare. Sirius knocked Remus in the ribs with a not so subtle elbow.

"Cut it out."

"I don't like being called by a name that isn't mine," he muttered and massaged the pint where Sirius' elbow had collided with his rib cage.

"And here I got the impression that you liked going by Smoke," Sirius sighed mockingly.

"Hearing a lot about me from where?"

Harold shrugged. "You're the current obsession in the Order, the big project-"

"I'm not a science experiment, ya know."

"For once, could you do us the honor and keep your comments to yourself?" James spat.

"I was under the impression that freedom of speech was a basic human right."

"Human right-"

Remus sighed in irritation. "That's getting really old, think you can come up with something a bit better?"

"Alright," Sirius interrupted as James opened his mouth to retort and ended things before they could get really ugly.

"James, stop," Harold said gently.

What really made Remus keep his mouth shut wasn't Sirius, but Harold. He was surprised that there was no warning undertone, no growl, and no blow.

"He started it." The older Potter gave a small smile.

"How old are we, now?"

"Eighteen," James muttered and crossed his arms.

"I think you're a bit too old to still be pointing fingers-"

"But you and Frank still do."

Remus watched in the highest degree of awe as they shared casual and friendly banter. He'd always assumed that all child and parent relationships were like what he and Greyback shared.

"Okay, so maybe bringing you down here was a bad idea," Sirius said quietly. "When they get going, you can never get 'em to stop."

They slipped out of the hall and both James and Harold were so engrossed that they didn't even realize they'd left until several minutes later.

The two teenage boys roamed around for a few more hours or so until at lat they came to a familiar looking hallway. Remus stopped at the head of the corridor and refused to take one more step.

"Rem," Sirius sighed, seized him by the sleeve and pulled him forward.

Remus' heels dug into the floor until they created runs in the carpet and he couldn't be moved forcefully anymore.

"I'm not going back in there," he growled, eyes narrowing on the door down the corridor where he'd been held captive.

"Don't have much of a choice," Sirius grunted, snaked an arm around the other boy's waist and forcefully dragged him the rest of the length of the hallway.

"No. I'm not going back."

He thrashed out of Sirius' grasp and turned to face him with determined eyes. Sirius sighed. He knew this was going to be the hard part all along.

"Why can't I come with you?"

Sirius' head snapped forward so that they were looking one another directly in the eye.

"Me? You wanna come with me?"

Remus' silence was a better answer than any verbal response could ever have been.

"You can't.:

The werewolf didn't protest, didn't argue or whine. His eyes shied away sharply from Sirius'.

"I wish you could, but you can't."

There was a long pause.

"I understand how it is. You don't want me."

"Don't even try to pull that card. You know I do."

Remus' eyes sought out his again.

"As a friend, you know," Sirius said quickly.

"Why can't I?"

"School, I've still got a week left to go."

"That's the only reason?"

"The one and only."

"What about after school?"

Sirius bit his lip. "I dunno."

"I'm never gonna get out of here, am I." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Sirius didn't answer. Remus stormed past him and headed back up the corridor.

"Where're you going?" Sirius asked and trotted behind him.

"Bathroom."

"You're going the wrong-"

"Am not," Remus snarled and turned sharply to the right. He'd been to the bathroom on the corner countless times and its placement was sharp in his memory. He slammed the first door on the right shut behind him and locked it.

"Rem, c'mon," Sirius sighed tiredly and jerked on the knob. "Don't be such a girl."

"Out in a second," he growled. "I've gotta go."

"Three minutes."

"Fine."

The bathroom was small, almost too small to be comfortable. But Remus didn't care, he was busy staring at his reflection in the dirty mirror. He watched as his reflection's eyes scanned him. His fingers snaked down to the faucets and twisted them both on as far as they'd go/ The water hissed into life and whirl pooled around the sink before spiraling down the drain.

It was loud.

It was distracting.

It was perfect.

Remus took the mirror off the wall and cracked it into several little pieces. His fingers brushed over the cool, jagged pieces and picked up one of the larger ones. Deep in thought, he rotated it slowly a few times between his fingers. A slow smile etched across his face and he tucked it up one of the coat's long sleeves.

He turned the faucets again so that the water slowed to a trickle and then completely died. The remaining glass pieces he shoved noiselessly into the cabinet underneath the sink. He unlocked the door and stepped out as if nothing had happened.

Remus sighed, arms crossed and glanced wearily down the hallway.

"Okay," he muttered, allowing Sirius to lead him back to the room he'd called a home for the past two weeks or so. "Lock me up and throw away the key."

"Drama queen," the Animagus snorted and turned so that they were at the had of the corridor where Remus' quarters were.

"Bloody hell, not again," the werewolf growled and came to another halt when they started down the hallway to his personal prison.

Sirius groaned in frustration when he saw that Dumbledore and some man he'd never seen before where arguing mildly outside of Remus' door.

"You're very popular," Sirius grumbled and hauled Remus down the hall, even despite his voiced protests.

"I'm not some zoo exhibit."

Sirius ignored him and gave an overly cheerful wave when his headmaster and the stranger turned to look at their approach.

"'Lo sir and..." he paused slightly before regaining his ground like he'd meant to have a lull in the conversation the whole time. "Other sir."

Dumbledore nodded to his student and fellow Order member.

"Sirius, I hope everything is well?"

"Oh, yeah," he laughed uneasily as he steered Remus by the shoulders. "Yeah, every thing's right as rain, things are."

"Hello, Remus," the white haired man tried softly.

Remus spat at his feet and bared his teeth. The man with Dumbledore went pale and his mouth hung slightly open, eyes fixed on Remus.

"What're you looking at?" He snarled over his shoulder as he was conducted into the white walled room.

Sirius grinned sheepishly at he two older mean as he shut the door in an attempt to muffle Remus' yelling and cursing behind the both of them.

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