It's just a short one, sorry :D University's starting back up this week, but I hope to get some writing done soon.

Don't own Harry Potter.

Interlude: The Animal

Remus did what he could to dress her before she woke up.

It was a half-hearted, rather pathetic attempt on his part to make Ivy less inclined to run away from him when she awoke. He wasn't even sure if that was what he wanted or not. Have Ivy stay with him, for the sake of his sanity, or have her far away from him, for the sake of hers? He shook his head slightly, forehead pressed deeply into the crook of her neck as he tried to gather enough energy to fit one of her blouse buttons through the correct hole, before moving on to the next. Thinking was difficult. All he knew was he didn't want to dirty himself further in the girl's perception by looking like some kind of rapist when she awoke.

The dark-haired werewolf gave up on the fourth button, sliding his arms from in between them to spread across the red earth on either side of Ivy's ribcage; sinking his body back onto hers, melding once again into the soothing warmth their bodies had produced after several hours of lying together.

Remus was very familiar with the after-effects of the full moon, but they were no easier to cope with than the very first transformation he had suffered through. Even hours after dawn Remus had not slept for even a few moments despite the physical exhaustion screaming through his muscles. Tremors of pain ran up and down his spine - though they were not as strong as usual, absorbed as they were by the smaller body beneath his. Remus' eyes burned and itched maddeningly, every draw of breath bringing with it a mind-numbing sensory overload of fire, rain, woods, musk, and Ivy, oh Merlin, Ivy. But perhaps the worst of it all was the confusion of my own mind, instinct muddled with clear thinking, an animal's thoughts warping in and out of the man's. He suspected it had been well over five hours since Ivy had succumbed to her exhaustion, or hypothermia, or a mix of both - and still he was trying to piece together the events of last night into something coherent.

When the wolf took over in the light of the moon, Remus' awareness dropped from that of a regular, practically thinking human to that of a feral creature; nothing was recorded in his mind from the encounter in a way he could easily recount as a human. There were only senses, flashes. Smells. Two humans. Sounds. Yells. Tastes. Blood.

Remus shuddered at the thought. Human blood, he reminded himself scathingly, staring at the dark patches of red staining Ivy's blouse.

But the blood wasn't Ivy's, he reminded himself, though Remus' hands had started rubbing her shoulders of their own accord in what he could attribute to an attempt to generate heat. Though she had been bleeding from a head wound when dawn had broken, it could not have been he who caused the wound. If his werewolf counterpart were to take her small skull within its jaws, there would have been nothing left of her above her shoulders. Remus hissed softly at the image his mind's eye provided and twined his fingers snugly into Ivy's dark hair. No, he had not bitten her, but he was more than certain she knew who his victim was. Her clothing was generously stained with blood not her own, set to dry in a pile by the fire.

Remus had tried and tried to remember what he had done - who he had done it to, but no matter how often the young man wracked his memories all he could come up with were intelligible shouts, the blur of trees, and the sensation of his teeth sinking into that soft human flesh like a knife into butter. The instant flooding of blood on his tongue. The crack of bones between his jaws.

With years of experience, those memories were pushed aside. Even with their repression Remus felt no less disgusted with himself. What kind of human being am I?

The cold, dark part of him responded easily. You aren't one.

He had sunk my teeth into a human, with the intent to kill. Even if Remus had not killed this person, he had sentenced them to a life of pain, guilt, and scorn as a werewolf. He could not decide which was the lesser of the two evils.

"Monster," Remus whispered aloud to himself, just to feel the answering sting of remorse and dejection. He buried his nose in Ivy's soft hair. "Monster, monster, monster."

Whilst the shivers of pain were fading, his hands were no more steady. They shook terribly with guilt. How could you? I wished this life on no one. You are a sodding ignorant fool. He knew there were risks when he left the safety of the Shrieking Shack to romp about on school grounds. Remus knew there was always the chance, just the smallest chance that Sirius and James would slip up somewhere and he would escape their watchful eyes. But he still stupidly took the gamble. And here he was, with none of his fellow Marauders in sight, an unknown person somewhere in the woods possibly dead or dying, and a sick Ivy Black in his company.

Remus pressed his cheek to hers, comparing temperatures; still cool to the touch, but greatly improved from when he had first laid down with her, her little body shivering like a leaf. For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, he pondered Ivy's presence. He was angry with her. Why had Ivy left the safety of the castle? She had no excuse, none that Remus could find. She was fully aware of the threat he presented to her the night of the full moon. She knew how he felt about her seeing him in his darkest hour, and he had good reason for it. Just look at her now; after only one night, he had reduced her to a creature on the brink of freezing to death, bleeding from a head wound and beaten black and blue.

Remus shook his head slowly from side to side, blinking slowly, and squeezed her little body tighter to him. The wolf liked having her close, but that was no great shock to the man; the wolf had demonstrated to Remus - at the most inconvenient of times, just how much Ivy's presence affected him.

As if to prove his point, Remus caught his fingers tracing Ivy's thigh and cursed softly as he forced his hand back to its more acceptable place at the small of her back. Unproper, Remus warned myself forcibly. Sirius' little sister. You are trying to molest Sirius' little sister in her sleep. No, no, no, no, no.

He could be angry with her later, Remus decided. When she was well enough to appreciate it, and he was far enough away to keep himself from touching her.

Remus knew the minute, the second, that Ivy regained consciousness. Even though she didn't move, she took that initial deep breath most do upon waking. He felt the flutter of lashes against his throat.

"Remus?" she mumbled softly. Remus held onto her gentle tone, curled in it, memorized it. It was irrational to think she would say his name with such familiarity once she fully awoke. He pressed his face into her hair. She was smothered in his scent, but hers was there too; heady, familiar.

"How do you feel?" he asked after a long moment.

Ivy murmured incoherently, took a deep breath. "Okay," she answered with uncertainty. Remus closed his eyes, wanting to shut out her coming reaction.

"Ivy?"

"Hm…"

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

Silence followed. Remus braced himself for - what? Fear, hurt, betrayal? He loosened his grasp on her, just enough so that it wouldn't hurt so much when she pushed away.

"I'm sorry, Remus," Ivy sighed deeply, lifting her head to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this."

Remus stared at her. Dread and relief filled his at the same time; He drew a shuddering breath. "I bit someone," he said slowly, confirming his worst fears. Ivy looked down. "Who was it? Are they okay?" Of course they weren't okay. When she hesitated, Remus sat up on one arm. "Ivy?"

Ivy inhaled slowly, scanning the outside scenery with half lidded eyes. "Morgan," she responded finally, looking back at him. "It was Morgan Black."

Remus was terrified. Out of all the people in this world, he to attack the one person who could ruin their lives; Morgan Black, who was around Ivy so often, and - and he certainly wouldn't be careful - and then he'd be so much stronger than her, and what if he - to Ivy -

"You don't have to worry," Ivy murmured, looking away again. "He's dead."

Dead.

Remus heard himself gasp.

Dead.

The brown-haired man drew in a breath; released it. He smoothed his hands together slowly, and licked his lips. Stood. He seemed too hot all of a sudden, running a fever, yet shivering violently at the same time. Remus started to pace - the rock walls got blurry, and Remus stopped, shut his eyes, leant heavily against the stone and stared at the outside world. He passed a shaking hand over his face.

You knew it would happen one day.

The smell of pumpkin wafted to him; Ivy touched his arm, her body brushing close against his. Soft. Alive.

"I-," Remus choked on his own words and shivered again. His throat was tight and dry. "I don't know what to do."

Someone would find the body. Someone would know it was a werewolf attack. With the close proximity of the school, Hogwarts would come under scrutiny. He would be exposed - and then the Ministry would get word of him. Out of all the people to kill, his victim had been a Pureblood - and the already archaic Minister of Magic would be a slave to the influence of the old wizarding families. His death warrant was as good as signed.

Remus slid down the wall to sit, feeling nauseous. After a moment, Ivy leant down next to him.

"Remus," she whispered, "I need you listen carefully." She stroked his head gently, and Merlin, it felt blissful. He wanted to disappear into her, he wanted to stay there with her and never move, never face what he had done. "I am going to take care of this. You aren't to blame. Morgan was trying to make you Voldemort's prisoner. Do you understand? I am going to fix this. Can you tell me which direction the river is? The one I found you near?"

"You can't fix this, Ivy," Remus murmured, tone shaking. "A man is dead." He choked on the word, locked his jaw against the sob rising in his throat. He couldn't meet her eyes, not after this, not after -

"Where's the river, Remus?" Ivy repeated patiently, smudging away the wetness of his eyes with the heel of her palm before it had even the chance to collect into a tear. Remus couldn't find it with in him to fight her; and truthfully, he wanted it to go away. He wanted it to.

With a deep breath, he raised a heavy arm and pointed westwards. Ivy followed the direction with her eyes, before leaning her brow against his temple.

"I'll be back," she said softly.

"No." He changed his mind. "Stay here."

"Just fifteen minutes. You're alright, Remus. I'm going to make this go away."

She stood, or tried to. Remus wouldn't let her budge under his hands. "Fifteen minutes," He ascertained.

She nodded, and Remus finally met her eyes. There was nothing condemning there. There was only comfort and resolve. God, he wanted to drown in her. He wanted to rewind to just a few moments ago, with her asleep and he, breathing her in, immersed in her warmth, ignorant, guiltless…

Ivy disappeared from his line of sight - the moment she did, Remus began to panic for a whole new set of reasons. He did not like this at all, this - Ivy by herself, in the Forest, where such dangerous creatures could - and if she died too, then - then -

Remus thought of what her casket might look like, all cold alabaster and white lilies, and a shawl of satin blue draped over it with the Black family crest. It could have been her. It could have been her wedged between his teeth, muscle and organ alike slit apart with every grind of his jaw. Her screams fading as her life spilled out, voice choked away from her by a throat full of blood.

Remus emptied the contents of his stomach into the grass just outside their shelter.

He truly was inhuman.

He had fallen into an uneasy, nightmarish doze by the time Ivy stumbled back to him. She smelled like rotting skin and blood. He lifted his heavy eyes enough to see her sit against the wall almost three feet from him, obviously conscious of how dirtied her scent was.

"No," Remus murmured. He leaned towards her and coiled and arm about her waist, easy dragging her weight to meld flush against his own. At least this way, he could smother her in his own scent.

"It's okay," she whispered to him, her voice tired, fading.

Remus released a sigh that came out as a small groan. Her head fell heavily against his shoulder; he rested his cheek against her damp hair. He didn't want to know what she'd done, didn't even want to speculate. She'd sullied her hands for him in some way, and he was too much of a coward to ask how. All he wanted to do was believe her, stay near her, and try to sleep away his guilt.

Just as darkness was creeping into his mind, Ivy whispered something, so softly he was certain she thought he couldn't hear.

"I would kill for you, you know."

Dude, that sounds like a declaration of love to me. TBC!