AU! NO WAR. NO VOLDEMORT.

Warnings: a bit of violence

WRITTEN FOR THC, YEAR 7

Standard

Gryffindor, DADA

Prompt:

[Day and Time] Sunday, 5:45

[Dialogue] Good morning! Did I say you could speak yet?

WC: 2269

It was a Sunday evening, and people milled about on the streets, walking up and down on the pavement as they went about their business. Cars honked, and the air was filled with distinct chatter and ringing bicycle bells.

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and dusk came sooner than expected, the last of the sun's rays cosseted behind soft, grey clouds. The street took on the look of an old photograph, everything a shade of grey.

As it was such a beautiful day, the Marauders (as they called themselves) had impulsively decided to take a short trip to Canterbury for the weekend. For once, they were all free. After checking into the hotel, James and Sirius had gone off to one of the local pubs, and Lily and Peter had chosen to go and see the cathedral. On the other hand, Remus had decided to spend a few hours relaxing in bed and reading up about Canterbury.

When James and Sirius had come across a wonderful restaurant, they had sent him a Patronus, listing all the delicious treats on the menu. The thought of the flavoursome food had made his mouth water, and his stomach had rumbled. He had quickly put on his coat and shoes before sprinting out of the hotel room.

Now, Remus stood near the hotel building, waiting for a taxi to pass by. Just then, he noticed a young girl walking over to him. Her dirty green pea coat flapped about her knees as she tucked her hands into the pockets. Judging her appearance, Remus absentmindedly assumed her to be in her early teens.

Once the girl reached Remus, she murmured, "Could you please tell me the time?"

Remus pulled out his pocket watch without hesitation, which had been a present from Sirius on his seventeenth birthday. It was 5:40 pm. He smiled as he told her the time.

The girl kept her head lowered and whispered, "May I have a look at your watch? It's so beautiful."

Remus was a bit taken aback by her words, but he figured it couldn't do him any harm. He handed her the watch, and the girl inspected it for a few moments, turning it over in her hands. She then turned towards Remus.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, her eyes surprisingly red-rimmed with tears. And then, she pivoted on her heels and suddenly ran off with Remus' watch!

Remus gaped at her running form and quickly gathered his bearings. He sprinted after her, bewildered by her actions. Why was she crying while stealing his watch? He didn't bother yelling at people to stop her, knowing no one would help him because bystanders rarely did anything. The streets bustled with too many self-engaged people, who didn't bother even looking up at him. So instead, Remus ran after her himself.

The girl was faster than he'd expected as she rushed through the alleys, taking different turns Remus couldn't memorise. He knew he was probably lost, but Canterbury wasn't a large city, and he figured he could probably sniff his way back to the hotel.

He kept on running after her. When she reached a dead end, Remus finally managed to corner her.

The girl turned towards Remus and whimpered, "I'm so sorry…" She tossed him his pocket watch, her hands shaking with obvious fear.

Remus caught the small gold watch swiftly and frowned at her trembling form. "What are you—"

He trailed off when he heard someone step up behind him. He was about to whirl around to face the person, but something slammed against the back of his head. Remus fell to the ground in a heap, his ears ringing with the loud clang.

The watch rolled a few feet away from him, and just as someone's boot came down upon the delicate glass, Remus took note of the time. 5:45 pm.

And then, everything went black.

When Remus' eyes fluttered open, he grimaced. The pain in his head was almost as bad as the migraines he got before the appearance of a full moon. The world spun, and bile rose to his throat. His head pounded, sharp, heavy and painful. He closed his eyes again to fight off nausea. He tried to raise his hands to his temples to rub them but found his wrists cuffed behind his back.

Slowly opening his eyes again, Remus found himself in a dark room that stank of liquor. The stench almost overwhelmed him, causing his stomach to revolt.

"What the fuck is going on?" he snarled, looking around his prison. Despite the darkness, Remus could hear a heartbeat nearby.

"Good morning! Did I say you could speak yet? Or should I say 'good evening'?"

Remus turned to look at the speaker. The room was small; there wasn't a hint of light at all. He understood it was done on purpose so that he couldn't see anything around him.

Unfortunately for them, Remus was different from others.

He wasn't a human; he was a werewolf. He could easily see, smell, hear and run faster than them. The only reason he hadn't caught up to the girl was that he wanted to know what was going on. As far as Remus was concerned, he had let them kidnap him.

He took a minute to remind himself that he was in control of the situation, Remus decided to look around to see the man in the room. His eyes were trained on Remus despite the darkness, so Remus quickly looked away from him, not wanting to let the man know that he had seen him.

The man was tall and had broad shoulders and biceps the size of melons. His whole demeanour screamed that he was dangerous, but Remus was lethal. Okay, he had never killed or attacked anyone before, but Remus knew that he could overpower the man with his werewolf strength.

Remus took a moment to calm himself and opted to focus his senses on all the things he could find out about this place. He shifted in his chair to see if he still had his wand on him, and fortunately, it was still in his pocket. If they hadn't taken it from him, it meant they were Muggles. Remus couldn't use magic on them, then.

He closed his eyes and listened. Faint footsteps went back and forth at least fifteen paces to his left. A door, then. On his right was the sound of water flowing in the distance. It didn't sound like the river, though. It was more like… a fountain!

Remus sniffed discreetly, and a faint smell of citrus wafted to his nose. He went through his memories of tree identification he had read that same morning in the hotel guide and decided that there were lime trees outside. That narrowed down his location to either the St. Lawrence Ground or the Dane John Gardens.

It couldn't have been very long since I got kidnapped, right? What did the man say? Evening? Well then, I must be in the gardens. Still, I should confirm this before I call the boys.

"What are you thinking of?" the man asked, chuckling under his breath as if he had asked something incredibly humorous.

Remus smirked and asked, "I'm just thinking whether you would mind getting me something to eat. I was supposed to meet my best friends for dinner, but you ruined my plans."

He snickered and said, "Alright, I'll humour you. Tell me what you want to eat."

A grin formed on Remus' face. It was just the reply he had been hoping for. He said, "Well, I want a pan-fried chicken with wild mushrooms, some crispy calamari, and a salted caramel-and-chocolate tart."

"D'ya think this is a restaurant? Where the hell am I supposed to get all that food from?" asked the man, his tone bewildered.

"From Bill's, of course! It is nearby, isn't it? I heard they're having a special offer," Remus said, taunting the man with his knowledge.

When the stranger's breath hitched at his words, Remus thought, 'Gotcha!'

The man snarled, "How did you know where we are?"

"Sixth sense, mate! And you just confirmed it for me." It wasn't a lie; the Marauders often joked that Remus' sixth sense was his mind. And he was incredibly proud of it.

The man stomped towards him, and all of a sudden, his fist came down to strike Remus in the jaw. Remus' chair toppled to the ground, and he smirked.

It was exactly what he had been expecting. Remus snapped the cuffs off his wrists, grabbed the man's thigh, and yanked him down. Before the man could react, Remus wrapped his legs around the man's waist. The man attempted to grab Remus' hair, but fortunately, his hair was too short. Remus used his full strength to roll them over and fisted the man's hair.

He quickly incapacitated the man by slamming his face on the ground. Blood spurted onto Remus' hands, and the man went still.

Remus breathed a sigh of relief, thanking Sirius and James for having insisted Remus learn defence techniques. He pulled out his wand and cast a silent Scourgify on the blood.

He got to his feet slowly and stretched his limbs. He walked towards the door and pressed his ear against it. Soft murmurs and clicking footsteps reached his ears, and he wondered if he should wait for them to leave. But standing there silently was boring, and Remus was a Marauder for a reason.

He shrugged and thought, 'Okay, if I just keep to the shadows and avoid any direct conflict, I'll be fine. This is just like that dodgeball game we played on brooms for James' birthday last year. Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and repeat.'

He took a deep breath in and kicked down the door. Immediately, the men began firing at him from all sides. The sound of the bullets whizzing past him was thunderous—especially to his sensitive ears. A grimace marred his face as he flinched. He couldn't use more magic on the Muggles; otherwise, the Ministry of Magic would be on his tail in an instant. But he could use magic on himself. He cast an Imperturbable Charm on his clothes and ran.

He rushed around, repeating the plan to himself. Dodge. Duck. Dip. Dive. Repeat. He knocked people to the ground as he ran past. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of Remus, and he knew the men would wonder if they had hallucinated the entire ordeal. He snickered at the thought.

Remus needed to find that young girl and ask her why she had helped these people kidnap him. He wasn't even rich or influential enough to be chosen for any nefarious purpose either! He didn't have any enemies in the Muggle world who might mean him any harm.

Remus followed the girl's floral scent and found her inside a small room. A tall blond man stood holding her by the neck, her feet dangling in the air. Her face was almost purple, and she looked like she would faint any second.

Remus leapt at the man's back, knocking him over. The man slipped and hit his head against the wall. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

The girl fell to her knees, gasping for breath. Her eyes widened as she looked up at Remus, massaging her throat where the fingerprints were visible. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't want to do it! I swear! They made me!" she wailed, scrambling away from Remus as fast as she could.

Remus crouched down next to her and asked, "Why did you do it then?"

She buried her face in her hands and sobbed pitifully, her shoulders trembling. "They've got my mum because my dad didn't pay back their loans. I just want her to be safe."

"What's their plan? Do you know anything?"

"They just wanted my help in kidnapping tourists from hotels. I don't know what they do with them…"

Remus scowled at the thought of human trafficking, shook his head, and asked, "How many have they kidnapped? How many are there?"

The girl looked up at him and whispered hoarsely, "Twenty four. But I don't know where they keep them."

Remus let out a loud gasp. What the hell? He frowned and inquired, "How long have you been doing this?'"

She murmured, "I've been doing this for two weeks, but the guilt is killing me. The gang's been working for longer than that, though."

Remus nodded and finally asked, "Who's their leader? Where can I find them?"

She shook her head, implying that she didn't know.

Remus thought of a quick plan. "Get out of here and go straight to the hospital. I'll find a way to help you, but first, I need you to run."

The girl stammered another apology and a grateful "thank you," before she stood up on shaky legs and moved towards the door.

Remus stood up as well and looked at the unconscious man on the ground. Looks like I've got some cleaning up to do. Oh, and also save some people. I'll probably need some backup for this. Good thing I have my wand on me.'

He pulled his wand out of his pocket to send a Patronus to his best friends, amazed by how quickly his Sunday evening had changed in a matter of minutes.

That reminded him… He needed to get back to the alley and find his watch. It was one of his most prized possessions, and he hated the thought of losing it just because he was kidnapped.