Author's Note: This chapter was one of my more intense chapters. It really portrays another side of Remus that he rarely shows. I hope that everyone enjoys it. Feel free to leave a review with your opinions, or some constructive criticism if that's what you prefer doing.

Chapter 21: The Rescue

"You guys, Jessica isn't in her bed!"

Remus's heart stopped when Sophia said those words. Without saying anything, he rushed upstairs to the third floor and threw the door open forcefully. All three of the beds, which the girls slept in, were empty. His hands shook violently as he tugged at his hair. How could he have been so stupid? Picking up the chair, which Jessica had sat in earlier that evening , he threw it agains the wall with such unrecognizable anger, and screamed.

The sound brought the others running up the stairs. Even Sirius seemed to have sobered up. James stepped inside the room and spoke in a calm voice.

"Who did you have take Jessica home?"

"Mr. Garrison offered! How could I have not seen it?"

"Remus, no one would have suspected him," Lily said soothingly. "We can question why he did it, later. What's important is finding Jessica."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Remus shouted.

"What's going on, here?" Mrs. Jones came up behind them, tying off her robe while Mr. Jones trailed along behind his wife.

"Jessica...she's been-" Sophia collapsed into sobs.

Sirius put an arm around Sophia's shoulders and hugged her comfortingly as she buried her head into his chest. "She's been kidnapped!"

Mrs. Jones put her hand over her chest and stepped back in shock. "What? Kidnapped? By whom?"

"By Mr. Garrison! The man you thought was such a good friend to you!" Remus bellowed.

"Remus, they couldn't have had any idea," James said, trying to calm his enraged friend.

"No, Mr. Garrison would never do something like that. Why would you even suspect him?" Yet, Mr. Jones seemed doubtful of his own words.

"He came up to us in the bar tonight. Jessica was heavily intoxicated, so he offered to bring her back here. I didn't think anything of it, so I let him take her! Now, he's...he's...who knows what he's done to her? Those gifts he's been sending her proves that he's a sick individual! I have to find her!"

"Wait, mate." Peter finally spoke up. "You don't even know where he lives, I do. That means if you're going, I'm going to."

"Same goes for me," Sirius said stepping forward.

James, Lily, and Sophia stepped forward too. Remus, however, shook his head.

"You are all too intoxicated to be of any help."

James put a hand on Remus's shoulder. "Mate, when you find out that one of your friends is in danger, you sober up pretty quickly."

Remus smiled briefly, then fell serious again and turned to the Jones's. "You stay here and call the police! We'll be back as soon as we have Jessica safely away from that monster!"

Mr. Garrison brushed a lock of curly hair from Jessica's cheek before running the serrated edge of the knife he held in his left hand across her cheek, creating a large, deep scar, then did the same to the other side of her cheek, moving the blade slowly. The pain she felt was enough to bring her out of her unconscious state and caused her to scream. Mr. Garrison merely smiled and brushed his fingers across Jessica's lips.

"Shhh," he said almost soothingly. "It'll all be over soon."

He caressed her hair like a father would a child, before plunging the knife deep into her shoulder. He wanted to slowly torture her until she was begging for the quick release of death. He wanted to hear her scream. He wanted her to feel the agony he felt when she continuously rejected him.

Remus stopped in front of the mansion, which Peter had indicated. Everyone got out of the car and stared up at the impressive structure. It made sense why no one would suspect a man like Mr. Garrison.

"Wands out, everyone," Remus ordered, pulling out his own and lighting it.

Lily approached the car, which was parked in the driveway and peered inside. "Hey, that's Jessica's purse!" She unlocked the car door with the Alohomora charm and grabbed the purse. "Her wand is in here!"

"That means she's somewhere inside the house," Remus said, using Alohomora to unlock the front door.

The house was completely silent with no sounds of movement, except their own. Remus had never seen a house so grand in his entire life. But he knew that it was the home of the man who had put Jessica through many weeks of mental torture. Remus would make him pay.

"Homenum Revelio," Lily whispered.

Remus silently admitted that it was a good idea and did the same thing. Everyone else followed suit. This way, with a few people casting the spell at once, more sections of the large house could be revealed at once.

"There is apparently a trap door in one of the rooms on this floor," Sirius said.

"Let's go," Remus said with a determination that no one had ever seen from him.

It was easy to find the room with the trapdoor. Remus was shocked to discover that it was just a simple office with dark wood paneled walls and a deep burgundy carpet. There was a small indention in the floor, which didn't look like it belonged. Kneeling down, Remus pointed his wand at the spot.

"Alohomora!" Remus swung open the door, revealing a long winding staircase. Holding his wand, he descended the stairs silently. Everyone else followed closely behind him. They came to a massive room made entirely of stone. The only light was a small torch in the wall. Just then he heard a scream, which turned his blood cold, as he directed his lit wand towards the source of the noise.

Mr. Garrison was kneeling over Jessica with his arm raised, holding a long bloodied knife. Jessica was covered in blood from the various places she'd been stabbed. Without hesitating, the young seventeen year olds reacted. Red streams of light shot from their wands, hitting Mr. Garrison in the chest all at once in a massive Stunning Spell. With Mr. Garrison unconscious, Remus ran over, holding his wand high. No, stunning wasn't enough. He wanted this man to suffer.

"Cruc-"

James and Sirius both grabbed him by the arms, stopping him and pulling him back.

"No, mate!" James hissed. "If you do this, you're no different from him!"

"Get out of my way, James!" Remus shouted. "This man doesn't deserve any form of mercy after what he did to her!"

"Mate, let the muggle police handle it," Sirius said. "There could be serious consequences if you harm him."

"She's losing a lot of blood!" Lily cried, kneeling down next to Jessica. "We have to get her out of here and to a place where we can treat her!"

Remus lowered his wand and relaxed slightly. James and Sirius felt it was safe enough to let him go. He approached Jessica and gently lifted her into his arms, then he turned and carried her out.

Jessica groaned softly, moving her hand slightly. Instead of the cold stone floor, she felt the soft cotton of bed sheets, and slowly opened her eyes to find herself inside the bedroom she shared with Lily and Sophia. How had she gotten here? She looked down and saw that she was wearing a light blue cotton nightgown. Sitting in a chair, with his head resting on the bed, fast asleep, was Remus. Jessica tried to sit up, but winced in pain. She touched her shoulder, feeling bandages through the cotton fabric of the nightgown. A brief touch to her legs told her that there were bandages there too.

Reaching over, Jessica gently put her hand atop Remus's head. The touch was enough to wake the young wizard. He slowly sat up, wiping the drool off the side of his chin. When he saw that Jessica was awake, he jumped up and pulled her into his arms. Jessica buried her head into his chest, briefly forgetting about the pain she felt.

"I'm so sorry," he said, his voice trembling. "I should never have let you out of my sight. When I realized you were gone. You just-You just don't know how I felt."

Before Jessica could say anything, the door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Jones came in, followed by James, Sirius, Peter, Sophia, and Lily. The two girls rushed forward with tears in their eyes to hug their best friend. Even the three boys lightly embraced her, while Remus stood there, staring down at her with a strange look in his eyes. Finally, after fussing over her, they all tore themselves away.

"Remus," Jessica said weakly.

Remus didn't answer. Instead, he sat down on the edge of the bed and rested his forehead against hers. "You have no idea how I felt when I found you gone."

"Remus."

"My heart literally stopped. I wanted to put myself through the most horrific pain and torture for letting you be taken. If I had lost you..." his voice trailed off.

"Remus."

He looked down at her, his light green eyes glistening with tears. Jessica looked up at his distressed expression and smiled weakly. She knew, deep down, that he would always be a very important part of her life. After the way she had treated him in the past, he still came after her. That had to mean that he cared for her in some way.

"Can you please stay with me for a while?"

Remus nodded and climbed into the bed with her, which was rather small, and clearly not made for two people, but he managed to make himself comfortable. Jessica moved very slightly to make room for him, wincing slightly. He brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and rested his head on the pillow next to her. They spent the next half hour, mostly in silence, before Jessica finally fell asleep once again, emotionally and physically exhausted.

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. The next chapter will go to Sirius's point of view. I know a lot of you are still waiting for Jily. Don't worry, that will happen very soon. I'm also working on some Sophius moments, as well. So, I hope you'll all like that. Those two are fun to write about, because they're such stubborn individuals, who are made for each other.