Come back to me, a harry potter fanfic

Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

[Season 9] - Round 4: It's a Horror Story Out There!

Team: Chudley Cannons

Position: Beater 1 - Be inspired by the title: Roanoke

Optional Prompts:

4. [quote] "I'm getting another call, be right back," I said to the emergency response professional who was trying to save my life' — Hank Green

5. [setting] Forbidden Forest

Written for Chudley Cannon Team Challenge

No romantic relationships!

Thanks to Ashleigh and Arty for betaing!

Word count: 2909

.:lll:.

Sirius stared at Remus with his very best puppy eyes, hoping it could convince him to stay; but Remus simply avoided his gaze as he prepared to leave for a mission.

Sirius hated when he left for missions because Remus could never tell where he went or what he did. All Sirius knew was that it had something to do with werewolves, if he was even telling the truth. Remus was always gone for days at a time, and it was too easy, too convenient, for him to be working for Voldemort. Plus, the timings with information being leaked were too precise for it to be a coincidence.

Sirius always hoped he could get Remus to stay, if not only to show Remus how much he loved him, but also to convince him to switch back to Dumbledore's side.

Remus leaned against the wall, sighing. Without looking at Sirius, he spoke.

"Please stop making this harder for me."

Sirius' heart skipped a beat. Remus didn't want to go! Which meant he could convince him to stay. He kept his cool and continued staring at Remus, who, after a few moments, finally looked at him.

"Pads…"

"I'm not saying anything."

"But you are."

Sirius stared. "I don't want you to go."

Remus let out a long sigh and massaged his temple. He always got unbearable headaches close to the full moon, and Sirius knew Remus had a short temper because of it. Sirius had to be careful with what he said and how he said it.

"I have to go. Dumbledore needs me to," Remus insisted.

Sirius shook his head. "You've already done so much. Dumbledore will understand if you skip one mission."

Remus looked away, his eyes tired and whole face wrinkled despite his young age. His hair was greying, too, but Sirius never brought it up. He let Remus ponder over his words, hoping they would make him stay.

A few minutes passed, and Remus looked at the ceiling, taking deep breaths. "I'm the only one who can do it."

"We have other werewolves on our side; the ones you converted."

"And they all say the same." Remus looked at Sirius, eyes glistening. The next sentence sent a shiver down Sirius' spine. "Greyback, he… the others said he's obsessed with me. Proud of what he did because of what happened between him and my dad back then. If he'll listen to anyone, it's me."

This was the first time Remus told him about a mission before going away.

Sirius stood up and took a couple of steps towards Remus. He didn't move, and Sirius took it as a good sign. "What if he doesn't listen to you?"

Remus shrugged.

"Moony, it's okay if you don't want to." He waited a few moments and watched as a wave of relief washed over Remus, as if he had been waiting for someone to say those exact words. "I don't have any missions planned for the next few days. We can spend the full moon together tonight. I'll take care of you tomorrow and bake that chocolate cake you like."

Sirius held out his hand, hoping Remus would take it and stay. Remus shifted the weight between his feet, and for a moment, Sirius thought he would take his hand, but then he shook his head and took a step back towards the door.

"Sorry. Dumbledore has done so much for me; I can't let him down."

Sirius didn't mask his disappointment.

Remus bit his lip. "We can meet once it's over. Next Friday, three hours after midnight, by that lake we found in the Forbidden Forest; the one outside the wards with the seashells. Could you bake the cake for me then?"

Sirius agreed, although reluctantly, and was forced to watch as Remus left.

.:lll:.

Two days later, Sirius apparated to the little lake. It was as beautiful as he remembered. The moon illuminated the lake, which cast light on the green surrounding it, making the place reek of magical energy.

James, Peter, and Sirius couldn't always control the wolf when they went on their full moon adventures, and had one time gotten so far away they could no longer see the castle in the distance.

They had ended up by this lake when Remus transformed back. Sirius, who was best at Charms, had summoned his and James' brooms for them all to fly back on, but they were so far away it took a while before the brooms reached them.

While they waited, Remus sat by the edge of the lake, with his feet in the water, wearing only Sirius' cloak. James and Peter had been dozing off, but Sirius sat next to Remus, letting him lean against him while they looked at the seashells.

Sirius had been so close to confessing his true feelings for Remus, but then the brooms arrived, almost knocking them into the water.

He checked his watch, but there was still fifteen minutes till their agreed meeting time.

Sirius sat by the edge of the lake but didn't put his feet in. He absentmindedly stared at all the seashells, putting his favourite ones in his pocket to show Remus when he showed up. His stomach tied into a knot, and he had a bad taste in his mouth, but he tried ignoring it. It was fine, Remus would show up in—

His heart dropped as he checked the time again. It was six minutes past three am. Sirius jumped up and started pacing back and forth. A million thoughts of 'what if' ran through his head, each worse than the last.

What if Moony worked for Greyback?

What if he worked for Voldemort?

What if he was hurt?

Sirius took deep breaths, trying to think of other reasons Remus hadn't shown up. He was probably waiting for the best moment to leave the pack. Maybe he had convinced Greyback, and they were talking to Dumbledore.

But the minutes kept ticking away. The sun rose slowly in the sky, waking the wildlife up. The clouds were rushing across the sky and Sirius' breaths became more and more rapid.

Remus didn't show up.

.:lll:.

"How did it go?"

Sirius couldn't even pretend to be hopeful when asking. They had been trying for months, but each time James called through the two-way mirror, the answer was the same.

"He wouldn't tell me anything."

Sirius closed his eyes and sighed slowly. Dumbledore wouldn't tell them where Remus' last mission had been, or anything about Greyback's whereabouts. None of the converted werewolves knew anything either.

There had been a hole inside Sirius since the day Remus left, and over the past few months, it had been growing bigger and bigger. His mind was clouded, and he couldn't think about anything other than getting him back.

"Maybe we should go back to some of Greyback's last known locations again; there's got to be some clues we've missed," James said, ever the optimist.

But Sirius knew it was no use. They had turned the place upside down multiple times, had used every known spell to reveal any secrets there might be. He had practically left the Order in favour of camping out by the lake in the Forbidden Forest, waiting and hoping Remus would come back.

All the things they had done to help proved everything Remus had always been afraid of; that the people in the Order didn't trust him because he was a werewolf.

No one was even remotely interested in looking for him; they all thought he had decided to join Greyback, and, as an extension, Voldemort. They didn't have any doubts or second thoughts, not even Peter.

But Sirius couldn't give up hope that they were all wrong, or at the very least, that he could bring Remus back to the right side. For once, Sirius was ecstatic about James' inability to distrust any of his friends; at least then he had one person on his side.

"We need a different approach," Sirius said, not for the first time.

James shook his head. "Nothing good can come from going against Dumbledore."

"It's the only way! Don't you want Moony back?"

"Of course I do!" James snapped. "But Dumbledore is the only person who has any idea where Moony could be. It won't do us any good to piss him off."

Sirius shut his mouth because he knew James was right, but he had never wanted to punch someone as much as he wanted to punch Dumbledore.

"We still need a different approach," Sirius repeated. "Where would we go, if we were Greyback? Where would be a good place to hide?"

"They need a big forest to run in during the full moons, big buildings to house the pack, and be close to a small town to get supplies.

Sirius nodded. They had talked about those points several times, and it was the only thing that seemed logical. But it still didn't lead them anywhere. Greyback could be in any forest in all of Britain.

He suddenly had an idea.

"What if we don't look for where he is, but where he will be?"

James' eyes widened. "You think we can predict his next attack?"

Sirius nodded eagerly. "Voldemort attacks muggleborns and people who go against him. Greyback attacks the night of the full moon. We just have to read the Daily Prophet for any developments, and we can even have Dumbledore's support if we have good reason to believe there'll be an attack."

Sirius' heart hammered in his chest, and although it felt inappropriate to smile, he was just so relieved to finally have a plan.

.:lll:.

James and Sirius spent the two weeks leading up to the full moon poring over every single copy of the Daily Prophet. They had narrowed the list down to the three most plausible options.

There was Dolivo, who wasn't in the order, but a known supporter of Dumbledore, and had recently stated so in the Prophet; Garcia, who was muggleborn and had been working to advance their rights; and Henderson, who was married to a muggle.

James and Benjy Fenwick were at Dolivo's house, Frank Longbottom and Caradoc Dearborn were at Garcia's house, and Sirius was lying in the bush by Henderson's house. The Hendersons had recently given birth to their third child. As Greyback often liked to target children, Sirius had insisted he would watch over the Hendersons.

Of course, none of the families were home; they had all been provided with a safe house until the night was through.

The full moon had been hanging high in the sky for almost an hour, and Sirius' mood was gradually sinking. Maybe he had been wrong about the location. But he stayed. He had a feeling it was important.

And he was proven right only a half-hour later. Three werewolves snuck out of the forest nearby, purposefully walking towards the house. The largest was Greyback. Sirius wasn't sure how he knew, having never seen him before; but there was no doubt this was the man who had caused Remus so many years of pain.

Sirius pressed himself further against the ground.

He had been waiting for them in his Animagus form. It would give him the best possible advantage he could have against werewolves. His form was black, and therefore harder to spot. Werewolves generally didn't care about other animals, or saw any reason to attack them, especially when they so closely resembled themselves. Plus, Sirius could better see in the dark as a dog, and his senses were heightened.

The wolves walked up to one of the windows, and without hesitation, ran at it, breaking through but barely causing damage to its skin. They must've staked the house, which meant the pack was nearby. Sirius' heart began beating faster. The attack tonight also meant they would be relocating soon.

While the werewolves were distracted, Sirius sneaked past them into the forest.

When he was transformed, his thoughts often became much simpler than when he was human; this was a considerable advantage right now, because he could focus on finding Remus without being distracted by the thought of what if he didn't.

He followed their trail of scent for what felt like hours. The trees seemed to close around him the further he walked in. Every snap of a twig had his heart hammering loudly in his chest, but either the werewolves didn't notice him, or they didn't care.

One particular group had him stop and observe. If Sirius didn't know better, he would have thought it was a group of dogs playing. They were jumping around, chasing each other and howling together.

Suddenly there was another howl; a familiar one. Sirius perked. None of the other werewolves reacted to it. His heart was in his throat as he kept sneaking through the forest to where the sound had come from.

A few minutes later, Sirius found himself face-to-face with a ruin. It was impossible to tell what it had previously been used for. Vines and plants were growing up the sides, and there were huge piles of stones from where the building had crumbled. It didn't seem like the kind of place a pack of werewolves would live, which Sirius supposed was intentional.

It took every ounce of his willpower not to run at the building.

He looked around to make sure no one was around, and once satisfied, he carefully crept towards the building.

It barely seemed liveable. There was a pile of bones infested by flies in one corner, big puddles on the ground and dust everywhere else. The wind sent blows of cool air through the building, making Sirius shiver.

Finally, he found something meaningful; a staircase going down. It smelled strongly of the scent Sirius had learned to associate with werewolves. Dirt, mould and dark magic.

He walked down as quietly as he could, in case anyone was there.

At the bottom, Sirius found a big open space. It was dimly lit, but he could make out a mouldy cobblestone wall where piles of blankets made from animal skin were stacked against it, ready to be moved at any moment.

And there, on the opposite side of the room was a small cell with a werewolf inside.

Moony!

Unable to contain himself any longer, Sirius leapt across the room, almost crashing into the bars, but stopping just in time. A giant wave of relief washed over him, making him momentarily tired. But adrenaline quickly filled him up; it wasn't over yet! He still had to get Moony out.

Moony jumped and was just as excited to see Sirius. He scratched at the bars, trying to crawl through, which Sirius almost believed would be possible; he had bruises, a dozen new scars, and was so skinny Sirius could see his bones.

Moony laid on the floor, put his ears down and whined loudly.

Sorry.

Sirius shook his head. Remus had just been trying to do the right thing; there was nothing to be sorry for. He put the thought away for the moment, instead choosing to put all his energy towards getting them both out of there.

The bars were too strong to get through, and Sirius couldn't spot a key anywhere. He could apparate them away once the moon set, but didn't dare stay any longer; every second he did, he risked someone discovering them.

Sirius had to do something both very brave and very stupid, which was definitely more stupid than brave, but it was all he could come up with.

He put his paw between the bars, setting them on top of Moony's.

Within a split second, he had transformed back, grabbed his wand, and apparated away.

They landed by the lake in the Forbidden Forest. Moony started growling and leapt at Sirius, teeth barring. Sirius transformed, and Moony realized his mistake just in time. He landed on top of Sirius but kept rolling.

Moony was up quickly, sniffing the ground and trying to find out where the human had gone.

Sirius got up as well. His heart was hammering so hard it might as well break through his chest. He felt as though he was drowning in relief. These last few months had been utter torture, but now he could finally breathe because Remus was back.

And they had all been wrong! If Remus had joined Greyback and Voldemort, he wouldn't have been locked up. It also meant that whoever had been leaking information the past few months couldn't be Remus.

His mind was blank with shock, and he was only vaguely aware of Moony trying to catch his attention by nudging him. He wasn't even aware that the moon was setting.

That was until Moony began howling in pain, snapping Sirius out of his train of thought.

Moments later, Remus was laying in the grass. Bruised, scarred, and bony, but there. Sirius transformed swiftly, taking Remus in his arms and kissing the top of his head. The hole in his heart was finally healing.

Remus opened his eyes slowly, blinking at Sirius. "Pads?" His voice was raspy.

"Moony," Sirius said, barely able to hold back tears. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Neither said anything for a few minutes. Remus edged closer to Sirius, who in turn held him tighter. For a moment, they were just two boys, sitting by a small lake in a big forest as the sun was rising on the horizon.

.:lll:.

A/N the last scene is the longest one I've written without any dialogue (except in the end). Phew.