Chapter Six: A Night Among The Muggles

He lay on the ground, gasping for several moments. The wind had been knocked out of him and his ribs were bruised and aching. He could feel the sting of scrapes and cuts from where his skin had grazed along the rough ground. But he was alive. That was the main thing. He had jumped from a moving train and survived. He could only hope the same was true for Sirius.

Gritting his teeth and hissing in pain, he forced himself back to his feet. Immediately he groaned and wrapped his arms around his midsection as his ribs throbbed and screamed like they had been kicked in by a centaur. 'Padfoot?' he called out. 'Padfoot - where are you?'

'Here!'

His heart skipped a beat as he heard the familiar voice croak back to him.

'I'm over here.'

And Remus forced one foot in front of the other and stumbled over to him. 'Do you still have the case?'

'It broke open on impact - everything's spread everywhere.'

'Damn.' He took out his wand and whispered 'lumos.' In the sudden light he could see Sirius looking bruised and shaken. He held his wand high and peered around for all their belongings.

'Lumos.' The tip of Sirius' wand lit up as well and together they hunted around, finding their robes and underwear and map and money and stash of teabags until finally they thought they had everything.

'So what now?' Sirius asked as he packed everything back into the case.

'Well - I'm guessing it won't be long until toadface informs the rest of the Ministry she saw you - which means the whole Ministry of Magic will know you're on the Belgian/ Luxembourg border and will be turning up here any minute.'

'That's true.'

'And I think it's fair to say that, even if she hasn't already, she will - at some point - work out that you were the dog all along. So the Ministry will know you're an animagus.'

'Also a fair point.'

'And as we escaped together and she knows my name - the whole Wizarding World is going to reevaluate what happened on the night of the full moon, everyone will assume the werewolf was in cahoots with the Death Eater all along and … I'm probably now the second most wanted wizard in Britain.'

'Yes - sorry about that, Moony.'

'I suppose worse things happen at sea.'

'Do they really?'

'Almost certainly not.'

They only broke off from their laughing when it hurt their bruised ribs too much to keep on. 'So what do we do now?' Remus asked eventually.

He saw Sirius shrug in the wandlight, 'I suppose if they're looking for us then we need to hide. And if they're looking for us here - we need to not be here.'

'So where should we go?'

Sirius took the map out, they laid it on the floor and pinned it down with rocks at the corners, raising their wands high so they could study it. 'We should go to a muggle town,' Sirius said. He scanned the map and then tapped one. 'Here - Ettelbruck - we can easily apparate that far, get a hotel room and then work out a plan once we're safely behind a locked door.'

Remus nodded in agreement. They stashed the map back in the case, rolled up their sleeves, whispered 'nox ' to put out the lights on their wand tips and then gripped each other's arms and apparated the 20 miles or so to Ettelbruck.

...

It was pitch black and starting to rain, when they landed outside the church in the centre of the town. The muggles in the street were too busy hurrying down the road, their coats pulled over their ears to ward off the downpour, to pay the sudden appearance of two wizards any mind.

'Come on,' Remus said, tugging Sirius down a quiet street, 'let's find an out of the way hotel then.'

The glow from the streetlights reflected in the puddles, as they splashed through them, giving off a misty atmosphere. It was still quite warm, though it was dark, it was just very wet - and the air felt muggy and humid. They slipped and slid their way past offices and restaurants, shops and blocks of flats - until eventually they came to a boxy, grey building with a fire escape running down one side and a neon sign that read 'Novotel'.

'Here we go.' They looked both ways and then dashed across the road to get to it.

'What are they going to think?' Sirius asked, as they ran. 'We're wearing robes - what will the muggles say?'

'Probably nothing, at least not to our faces. We're English - all people on the continent think we're all eccentric… which is a polite way of calling us mad as a cauldron of frogs. We can get away with quite a lot as long as we lean hard on being clueless Brits.'

They reached the revolving door, Sirius squashed himself into the same compartment as Remus, so they were suddenly pressed very close together and they fell out into the hotel lobby, gasping. Sirius then proceeded to shake himself dry - as if he was Padfoot.

'All right - we can't get away with being that eccentric,' Remus said, watching him with fond amusement - very aware of the muggle behind the counter's surprised eyes watching their every move. 'Come on.' He took hold of Sirius' sleeve and approached the desk.

'Gutten owend,' the muggle said to them both. Her voice was pleasant but her eyes flicked over their robes and battered suitcase and Remus definitely saw the way her mind ticked over and categorised them as being on the extreme end of eccentricity.

'Gutt -ten Ow-owned,' he stammered, trying to copy what she had said.

'Speak English?' She asked pleasantly.

'Yes - yes we do,' he said in relief. 'We'd like a room please.'

'Just one room?'

'One is fine. We're used to sharing.'

She made no comment - though he saw her eyebrow raise and he flushed, wondering how she had interpreted his words. She began to tap away at the … something on her desk, which had all the letters of the alphabet on it but in a random order. But despite the letters being any old place, she seemed to know where they all were without looking - instead she kept her eyes fixed on the screen of the big, boxy thing that seemed to be giving her information. Remus had no idea what any of it was.

'For how many nights?' She asked.

'Just one.'

'Quite so.' She put her hand on a big lump of plastic, moved it around on a little mat on her desk and then clicked with her left index finger. Immediately, there was a whirring and chugging sound from behind her and yet another muggle machine had sprung into life. This one seemed to be slowly spitting out a piece of paper, which she tore off and then put in front of Remus. 'If you just sign here,' she handed him a … well, it wasn't a quill.

He took it dubiously, wondering what he was supposed to do for ink. He looked around, and felt her staring at him expectantly … he lowered the nib of the muggle quill to the paper - thinking she would take pity on him, mark him down as a crazy Englishman and hand some ink over at some point - and started to write. He nearly lost control of it when - to his immense surprise - the ink just started to flow out of the quill itself.

He could feel Sirius staring in surprise over his shoulder as well…

… Now he was used to it, the muggle quill was much easier to write with than a feather one. He may have just been converted... He signed on the dotted line - and then initialled in a box.

'Merci - and if you just hand over your passports.'

'Our what?'

'Passports.'

Sirius and Remus looked at each other - nonplussed. 'We don't have - er - passports?' Remus said.

She looked at them incredulously, 'then how did you get into the country?'

'We - er - on the train.'

'But you had to show your passport at the border.'

'Er-' They had no idea what she was talking about. Meanwhile, her eyes were becoming harder - as if she was beginning to suspect something was seriously wrong. She reached for the … fellytone was it?

'I will call the police.'

'What are they?' Sirius asked.

But Remus had gulped. 'They're like - they're like muggle law enforcement wizards.'

'Like aurors?'

'Maybe.'

'We don't want trouble.' He reached for his wand.

'What are you doing?' Remus hissed.

But Sirius had pointed his wand directly between the eyes of the muggle woman - who just had time to look horrified before he shouted 'obliviate!' Her expression smoothed over, changing from one of terror to dreamy unconcern.

'Thank you, gentlemen, that will be all - I'll get you your key,' and she took down a large brass key from a hook which had '103' written on the fob. 'Room 103, up the stairs and on your left. Breakfast is served from 6 until 10.'

They nodded their heads in thanks and hurried away to the staircase, before she noticed anything else was wrong.

...

The first floor landing was in need of a lick of paint, and the carpet was scuffed and worn thin in places … though it was quiet, it didn't move and it didn't come complete with it's own Ministry Hag - so they were willing to overlook the shabbiness. After all - they hardly had room to talk, everything they owned was threadbare and worn through in places as well.

They found their way to room 103, unlocked the door and gratefully disappeared inside.

'There's only one bed,' Sirius said, flumping down on it and kicking his shoes off.

'Look on the bright side,' Remus said wryly, putting their case down and then sitting down beside Sirius, 'it saves you the effort of getting up and climbing in with me in the morning.'

'What do you think that muggle thought you meant - when you said we were used to sharing?'

He felt his skin grow hot. 'I don't know.'

'Well - there's a kettle in the room, I'll put it on shall I?' He scrambled off the bed, went into the bathroom to fill up the kettle and then came back out, frowning at it. 'It's got one of those - whaddaya call 'em - plug thingies.'

'So plug it in and see what happens.'

It took rather longer to boil than it did when they used magic - but that gave them time to get out their stash of teabags, discover that UHT milk was not as good as the real thing and agree to use 'lacciomente' instead.

While they waited for the tea to cool, Remus got out their pajamas and Sirius went over to examine the big, black screen thing that was sitting on top of the chest of drawers. 'Muggles have these in their living rooms, they show pictures,' he said. 'I used to watch them through the windows sometimes, when I was on the run. If it was the muggle news they would show pictures of me.'

'Fame at last,' Remus smiled.

Across the room, Sirius found the on switch, pressed it - and then stumbled back in alarm as the screen sprang to life and a muggle in a suit, sitting behind a desk, gabbled at them - very fast and loud - in words they did not understand. 'It's not in English!' Sirius said in dismay.

'We're not in England.'

'Well - hang on - these things usually have a wand thingy, I've seen the muggles using them.' He looked around until he found what he was looking for - a rectangular piece of black plastic with buttons all over it. 'Here - look,' he pressed one of the buttons, and the man disappeared to be replaced with an advertisement for yoghurts. 'This wand controls the screen. It's like … well - it's like magic.' He sat back on the bed and flicked through the channels.

Remus jumped every time the pictures changed - but eventually they found something that was in English and had foreign subtitles, which they could ignore. A handsome, young man was being driven in a carriage up to a castle in the mountains. 'I think it's some kind of story,' Sirius said, 'I don't think it's real. Shall we watch it?'

They sat with their cups of tea, watching in bemusement as the young man was taken into the castle and met by a creepy looking old man in a robe, whose shadow moved independently. Then all sorts of horrors started to happen. 'What on earth is going on?' Sirius asked, as the young man was crawled over by three women with fangs.

'I think … they're vampires,' Remus said, his brow furrowed. 'I think everyone in the castle is a vampire. Or at least what a muggle thinks a vampire is.'

'Even Jonathan?'

'No - he's just a person. I think they're going to eat him.'

They watched some more. The scene changed and now the story was in England and following different people … but people who seemed to know Jonathan - who was now missing.

One of the women started to get sick, strange things started to happen in England as well. The creepy old man had arrived in the country - only now he was a creepy, young man wearing a top hat and sunglasses.

'Is this making any sense?' Sirius asked.

'None at all.'

'So it's not just me being thick?'

'No. Usually it's just you being thick but this time …' he tilted his head, as if to see if it all made more sense if he just looked at it from a different angle, '... either this is nonsense or we're both being thick.'

It was nighttime, the woman called Mina woke up to find the sickly woman was missing and went to look for her. She was outside. The creepy, young man who had used to be old had somehow transformed into a gigantic and monstrous wolf and it was … doing … things to the woman as she lay there and moaned, and Mina watched on in horror.

Remus slopped his tea down his front and felt his face burn bright red. The blood pounded in his ears and it felt like the wolf on the screen was suddenly taking up the whole room - and he was horribly aware of Sirius, right next to him - watching that monster - that wolf - do ... that. 'I'm going to brush my teeth,' he said - and leapt from the bed, across the room and slammed the bathroom door, locking himself inside.

Why did it have to be a wolf? - he thought furiously. Why couldn't the vampire have turned into something - anything - else? Why did they choose to make him a wolf?

He took a deep breath - trying not to let himself be bothered by it, trying not to read anything into it - but it was no good. He could now hear the Ministry Hag's voice echoing in his head: Who knows what he could have done to me in the night? A dangerous beast in with a single woman. You filthy animal!

That was what she had meant. What he had just seen on the screen - that was what people saw and thought about when they looked at him … even muggles, apparently - and they weren't even supposed to believe in creatures like him. Why else would they choose a wolf out of all possible animals to do … that - on the screen? Because that's what they thought of them… what they thought of him.

He remembered the muggle receptionist's raised eyebrow when he said he and Sirius were used to sharing … and his face burned even hotter.

His hands shook as he unzipped the washbag and took out his toothbrush. He'd never seen anything like that - never seen so clearly in front of him what people were imagining when they found out about him. Never before realised all the connotations of the word "dangerous" - or just how animal they thought he was.

He remembered Sirius shaking himself dry like a dog … and knew the reason he hadn't joined in, had just stood there dripping, was because he was too embarrassed to ever act at all like an animal. Sirius - as a real human - had no problem letting out his inner dog. He was a man right the way through and everyone knew it. But for Remus - an animal only pretending to be human - he could never bring himself to act in a way that would remind himself or anyone else of the wolf. The shame would be too great. Because all anyone would ever see was what he had just seen in those moving pictures.

He found he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror - and closed his eyes to avoid meeting his own humiliated gaze. But then he could see the pictures in his mind all the clearer.

...

When he'd done with his teeth, he splashed cold water on his face - trying to cool his skin down. He took some more deep breaths - waited until his hands had stopped shaking - and then headed back out into the bedroom.

He was thankful to see Sirius had switched the screen off.

'We going to bed?' Sirius asked, and there was something in his voice … maybe that he was sorry something had upset Remus, or that he didn't quite understand what had happened but didn't want to push it, or possibly that he knew exactly what had happened - why Remus was so uncomfortable - and really really didn't want to push it. Either way, he seemed to be pretending nothing was wrong - and Remus was happy to follow his lead.

'We probably should. We need to get moving in the morning. The sooner we're out of Luxembourg the safer we'll be.'

Sirius nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. Remus got changed and then climbed under the covers. A while later, Sirius emerged - put on his pajamas - and switched out the light. He got into bed and - a moment later - Remus felt an arm snake around him and give him a squeeze.

He wondered if Sirius felt bad about what they had seen - and was trying to make him feel better - and, without knowing what to say, had just settled for offering physical comfort.

It might be technically easier than trying to find the right words - but it was throwing Remus into a world of panic. He was half amused by the casual and careless intimacy that Sirius bestowed - seeming to think nothing of it. But at the same time he was also confused and terrified and desperately trying not to read anything into it, not to make anything out of it. And most of all, he was trying not to enjoy it; not to savour the feeling of lying in Sirius' arms - and not to feel the way that all his blood rushed south, sending bolts of heat right between his legs … because that only reminded him of the wolf they had seen on the screen.

He lay there rigid, barely daring to breathe - but for some reason, his stillness only seemed to encourage Sirius to press closer, hold him tighter. He closed his eyes - if Sirius knew what this was doing to him … the disgust he would feel. It would be the end of their friendship, Remus was sure of it. How could they possibly survive his feeling this?

It came as a relief when Sirius spoke - it seemed to break some of the tension. 'I think I should write to Harry in the morning.'

'Why?'

'Because I've been spotted. The Ministry knows roughly where I am - it'll be in the paper. Those kids went to a lot of effort to help me escape - I don't want them worried. And - you'll be in the paper too. They're not going to be happy knowing the Ministry is after their Professor Lupin.' He gave him an affectionate squeeze. 'I need to tell Harry that we're alright. I won't tell him exactly what we're up to but … I need to let him know there's nothing to worry about.'

'There's quite a lot of things to worry about.'

'Yes - but they're for us to worry about. Not Harry and his friends. They're children. We do the worrying - they get on with being children.'

Despite everything, Remus smiled to himself in the dark. 'You're a good godfather, Sirius - for one that was absent for thirteen years. That's the most responsible you've ever sounded.'

'I can be responsible.' Another squeeze. 'I just don't have to be responsible when I'm with you and you're there to be responsible for me.'

'Night, Sirius.'

'Night, Remus.'

...

They studied the map of Europe over breakfast the next morning - though Sirius was distracted, suspiciously prodding the ham and holey cheese and rolls that they had been given. 'Why don't they just have cornflakes? Who has ham for breakfast?'

'Is it really that different to having bacon?'

'Yes.'

He chuckled, 'alright - look.' He tapped the map. 'If we apparate out of here and head into Germany. We can stop off at Kaiserlautern, and then …' he traced down the map, 'the next wizarding town is Baden Zauberer near Stuttgart. We should arrive there well ahead of the train. Give us a chance to ask around for Peter.'

'OK - I want to write my letter before I leave.'

'There's paper and muggle quills at the front desk.'

With breakfast finished, they stopped by the desk for the writing implements and headed back to the room. Sirius was frowning.

'What is it?'

'How are we going to pay? For our night here - they won't take galleons and I just saw some of the money a muggle handed over at the counter. It didn't look like the muggle money you have.'

'No - I forgot. Muggles have different currencies in different countries.'

Sirius snorted, 'why can't they just use gold like normal people? So what do we do?'

'Well…' Remus spoke slowly. 'We're wanted criminals. I suppose maybe it's time we actually committed a crime. We'll just apparate directly out of the hotel room. The muggles will never be any the wiser as to what happened. I mean - it's not like we're really stealing anything.'

'You took the soap from the bathroom.'

'Everyone takes the soap from the bathroom! And I didn't mean the soap. I meant the entire room. We're stealing a night in a hotel. But it doesn't hurt anybody. No one will ever know. '

Sirius grinned and shrugged. 'I spent twelve years in prison when I did nothing wrong. I am perfectly willing to get my money's worth and commit some crimes now I'm free.'

They headed back into their room and Remus packed up, while Sirius scribbled out his letter.

Dear Harry,

By the time you get this, I'll probably be front page news again - and you'll probably know that the Ministry is looking for Moony too. Don't worry - everything is under control (sort of). I can't tell you where we are, where we're going or what we're doing in case this letter gets intercepted - but just know that we're both fine and everything will be fine so there's nothing to worry about.

I hope Ron's leg has mended and that Snape isn't giving you too hard a time since I escaped from right under his nose. If it makes him feel any better I was sharing an enclosed space with the senior under secretary to the Minister for Magic and I escaped from under her nose too, thanks to Moony's quick thinking. We jumped off a moving train … I wouldn't recommend it.

I suppose you'll be going back to your aunt and uncle's soon. If things go to plan, I might even be able to visit you before the summer is over. But as I write this Moony is informing me that is a very big "if" and I shouldn't get your hopes up.

Either way, I will write again soon.

Sirius.

He put the muggle quill down. 'Those things really are a lot easier to write with aren't they? I always liked their motorbikes, but quills are where muggles really excel.'

'You know, they sell them at the shop near my house - if we ever get out of this and don't end up in Azkaban - I'll have to buy some.'

'I wonder what else we're missing out on?'

'Well - if we find Peter we can have the whole of the rest of our lives to find out. Now come on.' He held the battered suitcase in one hand and gripped Sirius' arm with the other. Sirius raised his wand - they nodded at each other - and then the two criminals, the two most wanted and dangerous wizards in Britain, committed their first real crime and apparated out of a muggle hotel room without paying.