Rating of R.
I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.
As a hired hit man, Sirius Black's newest target is a potential danger to the motives of the Death Eaters. The only information that is available to him is an age, gender, location, and the condition of werewolf. Werewolf narrows it down a fair bit, yet that's not going to help him when the location just happens to be an all werewolf school.
Major Alternate Universe alert and mild slash.
Coffee Stains
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"They're going to kill us, aren't they?" Wilton moaned as Sirius struggled up another flight of stairs.
"Shut up, Wilton," Sirius panted. His legs were becoming more unsteady with every step he climbed. "Which way was it?"
"There's a ladder. Right at the top of these stairs."
Relieved and frightened at the same time, Sirius concentrated on the last remaining steps. He cleared the top and then looked anxiously at the ceiling, fingers tightening around Wilton's thighs in an attempt to hold the headmaster aloft for just a short while longer.
"Where is it, Wilton?"
"What?" Wilton groaned in pain again and turned his sweaty face upward to the ceiling. "Oh, I could have sworn it was on this floor...We used to put them up there when they were misbehaving...Or maybe the renovations were on the fourth floor—"
Sirius' stomach plummeted, fresh dread sweeping through him. Expecting to be pounced upon at any moment, he glanced left and right down the hallway and then back down the stairs. "Think," he hissed, "Where is it—"
"Oh, yes. It was on the last floor," the headmaster wheezed faintly.
"Great," Sirius inhaled deeply and looked back down the flight of stairs that he had just barely managed to tackle.
He lifted Wilton a little higher on his shoulders and clenched his teeth against the pain from his aching and objecting back. Not voicing his apologies as the headmaster yelped in pain for fear of wasting any precious breath that he would need on his descent, Sirius stepped onto the topmost stair. Carefully, least his unsteady legs cause them to tumble down the stairs, he started down them as quickly and quietly as possible.
Gray eyes darting about for any signs that they were no longer alone, Sirius lowered Wilton from his back and glanced at the ceiling. The headmaster slumped against him, breathing heavily and clutching at the elbow of his mangled arm. Sirius searched for the faint outline in the ceiling that would point to the small crawlspace that had been in use before an additional floor had been added to the school to house those werewolves that were younger and those that would come to live at Stonegate Academy all year round.
Keeping his eyes on the entrances to the landing, no mere feat with four of them, Sirius started to spell the trap door open. He sensed rather than heard the wolf at the bottom of the stairs.
They're trying to be quiet and sneak up on us, Sirius thought in his panic as he nodded toward Wilton and placed a finger against his lips. The hand gripped tight around his wand started to sweat and Sirius jerked his head toward the half concealed door in the ceiling. Wilton's hands shook as he started to charm the door open.
The trap door opened with a loud bang as it swung violently open, causing Sirius to jump. He whirled around, screaming at Wilton and brandishing his wand.
"Go, now! Hurry!"
The fast clicking of claws echoed in the hallway and the single tawny and gray topped the stairs with a snarl. Behind him, Sirius could hear Wilton's labored breath as he struggled to climb the rope ladder that had fallen from the crawlspace above.
Shit, Sirius thought as the wolf eyed him briefly before turning its attention toward the headmaster. As the wolf moved, Sirius instinctively moved between it and Wilton.
Moony growled at him, displeased with being kept from his prey, and snapped his jaws threateningly.
It's two toned. This one's Remus.
Sirius had noticed it before during other transformations. Remus was only one of three wolves that were distinctly two toned in color; the others were mostly solids and the other two wolves were black and brown.
His mouth went dry and he started talking to the wolf out of nervousness and at a need to take some kind of action.
"Remus. Hey, boy."
The wolf growled louder and his ears flattened in annoyance. His eyes glanced over Sirius impatiently and focused instead on Wilton. The man's heavy breathing told Sirius that he had a lot more stalling to do, as he was probably only half way up the ladder.
If you fall, we're both screwed, Sirius thought in a panic as Moony took a slow step forward. Subconsciously, he strained his ears for the sound of any other approaching werewolves. He couldn't hear anything beyond the wolf's—Remus'?—growling.
"Where you going, buddy?" Sirius asked, his voice louder than normal out of fear, as the wolf took another step forward.
Moony hardly glanced at him as his muscles started to tense as if preparing to spring forward.
Sirius glanced over his shoulder at the same time that Wilton called his name weakly. The headmaster had disappeared from the rope ladder, his profile was only just visible from the darkness of the hidden landing. Moony snarled in anger and his tight muscles propelled him forward like a deadly projectile.
Sirius twisted around violently, a hoarse scream ripping from his throat as the wolf now directed all of its energy toward him, the cause for the escaped prey. He stumbled backwards and quickly brought his wand down with a slashing motion. A fiery rope curled out of the tip of his wand, wrapping a circle around the wolf, creating a high barrier between the two of them.
Moony whined in pain as the fire burnt him before he could stop in time. He growled, swiping at his singed whiskers and muzzle in pain.
Feeling sympathetic with a painfully beating heart, Sirius moved closer, craning his neck to see properly over the flickering flames. The wolf had subtly managed to move itself furthest from the flames protecting Sirius. The wizard could tell from his stance and eyes that he was preparing an attempt to jump the flames.
Sirius' eyes widened in panic and they both started to move at the same time. Moony bolted, hunched back slightly on his powerful hind legs and lunging up and forward the clear the flames that grazed against the underside of his belly. Sirius ran two long strides and jumped for the dangling ladder.
He managed to grab the third rung and cursed to himself as the rope ladder evaded his kicking feet. He climbed it more with his arms than he did with his feet, his hands grabbing and pulling and his feet kicking wildly below him.
As Sirius managed to pull himself up, he felt the wolf's teeth sink into the heel of his boot. He screamed and, on sole determination, pulled himself through the hole in the ceiling and out of the deadly grasp. Wilton, as soon as he cleared the ladder, severed the rope with his wand so that it fell in a heap to the floor below.
Moony growled as the rope ladder fell on him, entangling him. He snapped his way free and crouched back on his haunches. When he leaped upward his snout was only a foot from the opening in the ceiling and from both Sirius and the headmaster, Mr. Wilton. Shanking, Sirius pulled himself further away from the trap door.
"Close it," he hissed at Wilton, prying off his boot where the wolf had latched onto him.
He hoped that this wasn't the end, wasn't a vulnerable Achilles' heel. Heart pounding, he stripped off the sock and lit the tip of his wand. He scanned the flesh throughly, looking for even the smallest indention. His heel, apart from quivering with the rest of his body, was completely unharmed. His boot, on the other hand, would never be functional again.
"God, that was a close one—" Sirius started quietly, relieved.
Stealing a sidelong glance at Wilton, he nearly sliced his tongue in two for trying to close his mouth so quickly.
Wilton was staring at his hand where his fingers used to be. Below them, the wolf's pacing and growling was highly audible as they were completely silent, both of them contemplating on the changes those missing digits implied.
Wilton's head turned slowly, his eyes disregarding Sirius as he looked at his mangled leg where Moony had bitten him and had tried to prevent his harrowed escape. His head turned again, slower this time, with a certain measure of deliberateness, and he looked at his own shoulder. To the first bite that had already condemned him.
Sirius' mouth went dry and he suddenly felt very guilty for being so relieved that he had escaped from such a fate by, quite actually, the very heel of his boot. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to the headmaster, so settled for a moment of silence to give the man some room and privacy. Or at least as much privacy as could be afforded in such a small space.
"I...gone. All gone," Wilton said in a relatively calm voice for a man whose whole life had changed more dramatically and drastically than he could comprehend.
"Sir, are you alright?" Sirius asked quietly. The seriousness of the situation could be remarked upon by how much respect Sirius was granting the headmaster of Stonegate Academy.
"I'm...like them? Aren't I?" He asked, staring at his hand once more.
Sirius moved closer to the other man discreetly, choosing to ignore the sound of more clicking nails below and what sounded like a mild scrabble with lots of growling and only a little yelping.
Remus, be okay.
"Why don't you let me try and fix you up?" Sirius asked, drawing his wand closer to his side and directing his lighting charm to light the entire small space so that he could use his wand more freely to heal some of Wilton's wounds.
"Stay back!" Wilton yelled, himself jumping a foot away from Sirius. Sirius held up his hands as a sign of peace and no ill intention meant.
"Why don't you just try to stay calm. I'm going to help you—"
"Help!" Wilton barked, his voice gaining strength from the hysteria. "There's no help for people like me! I'm done. I'm as good as dead."
"This isn't impossible. Maybe it's not as bad as it looks," Sirius lied, edging closer again.
"Don't try to lie to me," Wilton roared, spittle flying from his mouth and his eyes large and deranged. "I know what's going to happen to me! Them! I'm going to be one of them!" He yelled, jabbing his hand that was missing two fingers at the door in the floor that was between the both of them.
"I won't do it. I'm not going to let that happen," Wilton said and then laughed shortly. His good hand searched in his torn robes, at last withdrawing his wand.
Sirius felt a new kind of panic rush over him. A panic that made his heart race anew and instilled a similar kind of fear as did the snarling wolves below.
"Mr. Wilton, let's not do anything rash—"
"This is the most sensible thing I can do. Don't you see that?" The headmaster hissed, his hand clumsily clutching at his wand. He contemplated shortly and then brought it level with his own heart.
"Put it down!" Sirius screamed, his own wand half rising, and then quickly falling again, least he temp Wilton into any kind of action.
Wilton looked at him, the madness still in his eyes but retreating now to the edges to be replaced with a sad sort of finality.
"You're family!" Sirius gasped out, grasping at what little convincing theories to hold onto life as he could manage.
Wilton shook his head, seemed to reevaluate his decision and placed the tip of his wand against his temple instead.
"They'd rather see me dead," Wilton said quietly, sadly.
"No, you're wrong," Sirius negotiated.
"Lad, I know what I'm talking about. I wish you the best of luck."
Sirius' wand, which he had continued to keep clutched by his side, now flew into action, coming arm level. Before he could complete the first syllable of his disarming charm, Wilton's wand had backfired with a sound like a cannon. Sirius yelled and ducked as the gore from Wilton's body splattered against the floor and walls of the small, cramped space.
Dropping his wand, Sirius wiped the blood off his cheek with trembling fingers. His eyes went, forbidden, to Wilton's sprawled and broken body. His head snapped to the side, vomit spilling to pool on the floor.
He knew that Wilton hadn't been able to use the killing curse on himself, that would require an amount of pure hatred that was impossible to express toward yourself. He hadn't been positive that Wilton would use such a destructive spell in its place, however.
Sirius crawled over the pool of sick on the floor and wedged himself into the farthest corner from Wilton's decapitated body. The carnage in the small, contained space made him wretch again, and he extinguished the light, emerging into complete and total darkness.
Sirius hugged his knees to his chest and listened to the prowling of just a single wolf below, they must have gotten bored with their scrimmage and fled to new, more interesting parts of the school. All that remained below seemed to be the wolf that held such a vendetta against a dead man. The wolf was quiet, obviously listening intently after such a loud and unexplained noise.
Even his own breathing seemed muted. Sirius found himself utterly alone, terrified that some dark demon would materialize of out of the darkness and finish him off like it had done to some many others in the school.
His own tears, warm and gliding down his face to mix with the blood and sweat, startled him, and caused him to jump. Sirius closed his eyes and cried silently, waiting for the morning, and with it salvation, to come.
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