Chapter Thirteen: Unlucky For Some

The Bosnian landscape should have been breathtakingly beautiful. It was a land of dense forests and sparkling, blue rivers and tall mountains, waterfalls and medieval cities … but wherever they looked there were signs of the terrible muggle war raging around them. There were whole bare patches where trees had been razed to the ground, the grass burned away and craters in the dirt - which looked like meteor strikes but had come from explosions.

Buildings showed damage as well: windows blown in; whole walls falling down; bullet marks scarring the brickwork. There were displaced people straggling down the road, clutching what belongings they had managed to salvage when they fled their homes - and every so often armoured vehicles would pass by, with grim faced soldiers sitting atop them.

It was awful to see. But it just made the two of them more determined than ever to press on and stop Peter. This reminder of what war was really like made it seem more important than ever that they prevent Voldemort from rising again, that they prevent … this from happening to their own home. Muggles might fight wars differently to wizards - but the results were still the same: the loss, the heartbreak, the pointless waste, the destruction and the wounds that would never really heal.

They had already lived through one war, fought in it and watched their community rebuild … they were not going to let it happen again.

Unfortunately - despite their best intentions to make wizarding Britain a better and safer place for everyone who lived there … they were being actively worked against by their own Ministry. Even though their getting captured would be what would bring all this death and destruction right onto their own doorstep - the very people whose job it was to run Britain and keep it stable were trying to capture them. If they succeeded, they would inadvertently bring about a second war, they would inadvertently be the cause of all this horror raining down on them at home once again.

So - to that end - the boys travelled incognito: wands away and staying among the muggles. It was slow, they were weary - but it was their best bet for success.

They had hoped to avoid the worst of the fighting by leaving Croatia north of Dubrovnik, but entering Bosnia south of Sarajevo - and were now creeping across the bottom corner of Herzegovina, hoping to make it to Montenegro before too long.

However, they had agreed that they would have to take the risk of stopping off in Gnomagrad - the wizarding town. They needed to find traces of Peter, needed to know just how far ahead of them he was. If he had been asking for rumours about Albania as far back as Baden Zauberer, he would definitely be asking now he was in the Balkan States. People might remember him, they might know something that could help the two of them catch him before he found his master.

Though they had another problem - besides the muggle war and the missing rat - that day by day was becoming more serious and that they would soon have to contend with: the date of the next full moon was drawing ever closer.

Remus was starting to tire more easily, the dark circles under his eyes were becoming more pronounced and - though he tried not to say anything, tried not to let Sirius see the pain he was in - his bones were starting to ache.

'Are you sure you're alright, Moony?' Sirius asked him, as they boarded a bus in Mostar, headed south towards the border.

'I'm fine - don't fuss.' But he collapsed gratefully into his seat, closed his eyes and had fallen asleep before the bus had even set off.

But his sleep was not restful - it never was, this close to the moon. He could sleep for hours and still wake up feeling no better than he had before - no less tired. His bones prickled and his head ached even as he slept.

And he dreamed.

Disturbing dreams. The moon was full and he was wolfish - and chasing a rat through a mountain pass, but - no matter how close he got - its worm-like tail would just slither from his grasp. And then there was a high pitched cackle and a flash of green and Diagon Alley exploded right in front of him, great chunks of marble from Gringotts crashing to the floor, the cobbles splitting and the ground breaking open and witches and wizards were scurrying down the roads, clutching trunks and cauldrons and family heirlooms, while Ministry wizards drove past them in their armoured cars. Toad Face was sitting on the top of one of them - her wand raised - and she caught sight of Remus in the crowd, her eyes widening in fright as she saw the wolf. 'It's there - catch the halfbreed' she yelled and suddenly all the other people were screaming and panicking and someone had grabbed hold of him and was pushing and pulling him and…

...He woke up with a start. It was Sirius who had grabbed him, was roughly shaking him awake - and the panicked voices were real. The bus had come to a stop at the side of the road, and their fellow passengers were yelling and wailing, women and children were crying, people were on their feet and it was like the whole bus had descended into frantic chaos.

'What's happening?' he asked stupidly, looking around. 'what's wrong?'

'Bomba!' A man was shouting. 'To je bomba.'

'What does he mean?' Remus asked, still not understanding. 'What's a … a …' and then his mind whirred around and something clicked. He felt the information clunking into place. 'A bomb?' He asked. 'One of those muggle things that explodes?'

'Someone's planted one on the bus,' Sirius said grimly. 'Like the one we saw in the museum in Italy.'

'But the information said that if the freezing charm wore off…'

'The museum would be blown sky high … taking everyone inside with it.'

'So - this bus…?'

'Yes.'

And suddenly the screaming and the crying made a terrible sense.

'We have to stop it.'

'They're trying to evacuate the bus - before it…'

'Is there time?'

But before Sirius could answer, the man from before had shouted 'pet sekundi!' holding up five fingers. People screamed all the harder, some flung themselves beneath their seats, others tried to fight their way down the aisle towards the door - but it was a desperate scrum and everyone was wrestling and struggling but no one was getting very far.

'Cetiri,' the man said, lowering a finger. 'Tri.' He seemed paralysed - apart from his fingers, just staring in horror while ugly, painful death ticked closer by the second.

'Come on,' Sirius had gripped his wand - and hopped over the back of his seat. A charge of pure magic seemed to run right through him so, despite their shrieks and struggles and the fact they were all trampling each other, the muggles all seemed to clear an instantaneous path for him.

Ignoring the twinges in his bones and the aches of his muscles - Remus gripped his wand and followed him.

'Dva.' The man shouted.

They were right by him and the bomb now. There was a red clock ticking down the seconds.

'Jedan!'

Everyone screamed and threw their arms over their heads, mothers hugged their children - everyone was still, and braced for the end … apart from Remus and Sirius who pointed their wands and yelled 'immobulus' at the tops of their voices.

They yelled it just as the sound of an explosion rent through the air. There was the burst of something like fire and glints of metal shooting upward … and then it all stopped. And everything was silent.

The muggles whimpered - and then looked up, confused. This was not what was supposed to have happened. They were supposed to be dead...

But instead, the bomb was in a state of partial explosion - and was now completely still. There was a great burst of flame leaping from it … only the flames did not move, did not grow taller, did not shoot outwards … they were not hot, they did not make a sound. They were completely frozen - like a painting of fire but not at all like the real thing. Except it was the real thing.

And there were scraps and shards of metal floating in the air as well - again frozen and harmless: nails and needles and ball bearings all hanging in the air, the sunlight glinting off them - making their halted deadliness glisten and shine.

Remus swallowed hard, and looked at Sirius. He could only imagine what these would have done - the damage they would have caused - if they had been allowed to erupt out at full force. He remembered the pictures they had seen on the muggle news - the destroyed towns and the makeshift hospitals - and felt sick.

Behind him, he could begin to hear the muggles start to murmur - quiet at first but then louder, wondering at what they were seeing. Of course the pair of them did not understand a word of what was being said until …

'Magija,' one of the muggles whispered.

And the word was taken up and passed around: 'magija, magija'. And - as hopeless at languages as the two of them were - that one seemed pretty self explanatory.

'What do we do?' Sirius asked.

'We need to get this - bomb - off the bus. And then…'

'They saw - they all just saw. And listen to them - they know what they saw. We just broke the statute of secrecy.'

'To save everyone's life - including ours!'

'It doesn't matter. They saw. And if they saw - if they remember …'

Remus swallowed again, and nodded. 'Memory charms?'

'Let's move the bomb - and then obliviate the lot of them. They'll be happier not remembering this happened anyway.' He pointed his wand at the bomb again and muttered. 'Wingardium Leviosa' and the frozen bomb suddenly raised two feet from the floor. The muggles all screamed again.

'Mobilocorpus' Sirius muttered, ignoring the gasps of horror and amazement as it began to float down the aisle. He followed it out, pointing his wand at it the whole time.

Remus grabbed their suitcase and followed him. The driver had got to his feet, 'Sta? Sta se desava? Ko si ti?'

'Stay!' Remus said to him, holding his hand up, 'just - wait a minute.' He hovered awkwardly in the doorway while Sirius deposited the frozen bomb at the side of the road.

And then, once Sirius was back on their bus, they made their way through it - starting with the driver - pointing their wands and muttering 'obliviate.'

Every time a muggle got a wand pointed in their face they would whimper and look frightened again. But then, once the incantation was cast, their expressions would become blank and dreamy, they would look unconcerned and sit back in their seat, utterly relaxed - both the bomb and the magic forgotten about.

'So much for not doing magic,' Sirius said, as he finished off with the man who had done the countdown. 'We've just blown our low profile right out of the water.'

'Yes - we can't stay on this bus now, they'll be coming right for it.'

'So we're back to walking.'

Remus felt all the twinges and aches in his body, the pains he always felt as the full moon grew closer, and tried not to sigh. 'Back to walking.'

...

They got off the bus - and stood by the side of the road, watching as it drove away, until it was completely out of sight. 'Right,' Sirius said, briskly. 'Let's deal with this thing.' He nodded towards the bomb.

They levitated it away from the side of the road and into the trees which lined the path. Once they were safely out of view from any passing cars, they came to a stop and considered the problem.

'Do you think we can just vanish the individual bits?' Sirius asked.

'We can try.'

Pointing their wands at the cruel curls of shrapnel which floated within the frozen flames, they worked at vanishing them all. Once they were done, the flames still shot upwards - harmless for now but only harmless as long as their freezing charm held.

'We need to put it out,' Remus said heavily. 'The fire. We can't just leave it.'

Sirius nodded - something seemed to pass across his face, like a cloud blocking the sun, and his grey eyes looked dark … And Remus wondered if maybe he was not doing as good job of hiding how weary he was from his friend as he hoped. If Sirius had guessed more of the truth than he was letting on. 'I'll do it,' Sirius said. 'Don't - you don't have to … you just … don't worry about it.'

Well that seemed to answer that question.

'I'm not an invalid, Sirius.'

'I know.' But he still pointed his wand at the fire alone and said 'ignem extinguo' as forcefully as he could. The frozen flame flickered … and then went out, like a great tidal wave had quenched it. 'So - I think this is harmless now,' Sirius said, squatting down and examining the bomb casing. 'I think everything that was in it has come out - it's just a shell.'

'We should still do something with it … in case.'

'I'll … I'll tranfigure it. And then bury it.' With a flick of his wand he had turned it from the metal casing and digital countdown clock into a round alarm clock with brass bells on the top. If it went off now - it would do nothing but make an irritating ringing sound. Then he used his wand to magic a deep hole on the soil, another flick and the alarm clock was at the bottom of the hole - at least ten feet down, and another wave and the soil was heaped back on top of it. 'There.'

'Right - well - we've done even more magic now … we need to get out of here. Fast.'

Sirius gave him another worried look. 'Are you up to going anywhere fast?'

'Well I have to be, don't I? I don't have a choice.' His voice sounded snappish even to him, he saw the look of surprise on Sirius' face and sighed deeply. 'Look, I'm sorry. I'm just … let's get out of here. The longer we stand here, talking about me, the more likely we are to get caught. Let's get moving.'

'I don't think we should move too far,' Sirius said. To Remus' surprise - though he could not say he wasn't grateful - Sirius wrapped an arm around him, and Remus leaned on his shoulder as they started to walk away. 'I think you're right. I think the Ministry will be swarming around here any minute - and they'll track down that bus. We need to hide - not run. Especially as you're … We need to get to the next muggle town and then just hunker down in a hotel room for the next couple of days. No magic. Not even lacciomente . They'll never find us. And I think you could do with the rest.'

And Remus, aching all over, could not disagree with that.

...

They had limped into the muggle town of Nevesinje, their arms still wrapped around each other and Remus leaning heavily on Sirius' shoulder. They found a hotel - a little pension with only a few rooms, run by an elderly woman - and asked for a room. They never even noticed the raised eyebrows any more when they asked to share. She handed them a key and they gratefully made their way up to their room; their new home for the next two nights.

They came to a surprised stop in the doorway. 'There's two beds!' Sirius exclaimed in dismay. 'Why did she give us … hang on…' he raised his wand.

'Sirius!'

'Oh - right.' His wand was lowered. Instead, he dropped the suitcase, helped Remus into the armchair and then started manually shifting furniture around - until the twin beds had been pushed together. 'There!' he looked pleased with himself.

Despite his aches and pains, Remus smiled fondly. 'Remember when we used to sleep in separate beds? Less than a month ago? Remember that?'

'Nah - that was rubbish. This is much better. Don't pretend you don't agree.'

Well, he could say he didn't agree - but it would be a lie. So he just shook his head and said nothing.

Sirius kicked off his shoes and lay down on the bed. After a moment, Remus went to join him. Immediately, Sirius had rolled over and was watching him anxiously. 'Are you sure you're OK, Moony?'

'I go through this every month. I'm fine … I will be fine.'

'But you're not usually … you've never been on the run before. You're not normally walking your way through the Balkan States with the Ministry chasing after you and fighting every monster that pops out at you. Normally you're at home - with a cup of tea.'

'Well I wouldn't say "no" to a cup of tea.'

'Right' and Sirius vanished from his side and put the kettle on. They used the electric plug, because they couldn't use magic - and Sirius sadly examined the little UHT cartons of milk. Once he was done, he brought the mugs back over to the bed and put one down on the nightstand for Remus, 'there you go.'

'Thanks.'

They sat together for a while, sipping their tea. Sirius' brow began to furrow - and after a while he spoke. 'There's something I don't understand … about Peter.'

Remus raised an eyebrow. 'Is it: "how did he grow up to be such a traitorous rat"?'

Sirius gave his bark of laughter. '... no - well, maybe. In a way. It's just … he must have travelled this way too. I know he's probably moving faster than we are. Apparating in stages. But ... he can't have not noticed the war going on.'

'It is rather everywhere.'

'When I see the things that are happening here - and I think about them happening at home, about Harry and Ron and Hermione having to grow up with the kind of things that happened while we were growing up, and all the deaths and destruction… It makes me feel sick to think of it all happening again. I just - I don't understand how Peter can see what is happening here and still want to seek out Voldemort - still be willing to bring all this back to Britain. I mean - he's a coward. He doesn't want to have to fight. What is he playing at?'

Remus shrugged - though the action made his shoulder muscles twinge. 'Maybe he's doing it for the same reasons the muggles are doing this to each other now. They want what they want and they'll do anything to get it … no matter how many people they hurt.'

'But I don't think Peter cares about a pureblood society.'

'He is a pureblood though, isn't he? At least - he doesn't have any muggle grandparents.'

'He isn't one of the sacred 28.'

'Neither was James - James was pureblood.'

'And James didn't believe any of that nonsense … and I don't think Peter does either. He joined Voldemort out of fear. Plain and simple. But why go back to him? He joined Voldemort because he didn't want to fight him, but Voldemort's gone - there is no fighting. Why bring him back? Surely he looks around this place and remembers what it was like? Why is he risking us going back to that?'

Remus sighed. 'Because he has nowhere else to go. He's faked his death - so he can't reintegrate into society. And he can't live as a rat any more.' He nudged Sirius, 'you saw to that.'

'You think I should have just stayed in Azkaban? That none of this would be happening if I hadn't escaped?'

'Of course you shouldn't have stayed in Azkaban! You were innocent, Sirius - you should never have been there in the first place. Peter needs to face justice for what he did. The way things have turned out is - er - less than ideal - but that's not your fault. We were going to kill him. This wouldn't be happening if we'd killed him.'

'So this is all Harry's fault?'

'It's no one's fault except Peter's. That's why we need to catch him.'

Sirius nodded. 'And we will - two days here, until the Ministry loses sight of us again - and then we'll hunt him down like the rat that he is.'

But it was Remus' turn to furrow his brow. 'No we won't,' he said quietly.

'What do you mean?'

'We can't just - start the hunt again… the full moon. We need to find somewhere. Out of the way of muggles - out of the way of everybody. We need to find a way to make me safe.'

'Well - we'll just go to a forest and - and it'll be like at school. We'll be together - you know I can keep you under control.'

'You can't just let me roam free.'

'We used to.'

'And that was a terrible mistake. We were … were so wrong to do that. And if we'd been caught, we would have been punished severely … I would have been punished severely. And I would have deserved it. But now - if there's even a hint of a werewolf attack, or someone hears the howls, then the Ministry will be on top of us before the moon has set - and the punishment we are facing now is the dementors' kiss. And once we're worse than dead… then there is no one to stop Peter.'

'So what do you suggest we do?'

Remus sighed, and looked around the room miserably - wishing there could be another answer. 'We'll have to go deep into a forest, set up enchantments - muggle repelling charms, protection enchantments, muffliato … and then you'll have to conjure a cage.'

'I'm not putting you in a cage!' Sirius sounded outraged.

'Well - where else are you going to put me? All that matters is that I'm not able to hurt anyone and that the two of us don't get caught.'

'We can find somewhere - out of the way, abandoned like the sh-'

'Like the shrieking shack?' He laughed hollowly. 'Somehow, I don't think werewolf safehouses are just littering the Bosnian countryside. And even if they were, the muggles would have probably blown them up. Everything else has been. We're going to have to create something safe - and we're going to have to do it quickly - and then we're going to need all the cloaking charms and protection enchantments we can muster to try and hide the magic we used to do it … and to try and hide me.'

'Well...' Sirius sniffed. He did not sound convinced. 'We'll not argue about it now.'

'No - we can wait for the moon and then a lack of other options will force you to do what I'm saying right now. I suppose we don't have to talk about it further.'

Sirius gave him a dark look. 'I'm not putting you in a cage.'

'You will.'

'I'll find another way.'

'Mmmhmmm,' he made a disbelieving noise through his nose - and received another dark look from Sirius. He forced himself to smile. 'You're right - let's not argue about this. Let's think about something else.'

But - with the full moon drawing closer, and Peter travelling further ahead of them every moment they stayed still, and the knowledge of the muggle war right outside their window, it was hard to think of anything more cheerful. Everything seemed to lead back to Voldemort - and their desperate need to stop him.

'You know there's something else I don't understand,' Sirius said eventually.

'What's that?'

'They call me a mass murderer because I supposedly killed thirteen people with one curse.'

'Yes?' He said slowly, not understanding where this was going.

'The truth is Peter killed twelve people with a single curse. But still - twelve is a big number to kill with one curse.'

'It is - that's why people were so horrified.'

'But - if that bomb had gone off - it would have killed everyone on the bus. Way more than twelve people. Probably destroyed most of the bus as well. And it wasn't even a big bomb - nowhere near as big as the one in the museum.'

'Yes - they do seem unusually destructive.'

'I just don't understand why Voldemort keeps sticking with the killing curse - one wizard at a time. When, if he learned something from the muggles, he could do so much more damage.'

Remus shuddered at the thought. 'Let's just be glad he has never learned from the muggles.'

'But why hasn't he? When the things they know - the ways they kill people - could help him so much. If he just - you know - adapted their weapons so they worked magically.'

'I suppose - I suppose it's because he hates muggles. He thinks they're beneath contempt, not worthy of his notice. So he doesn't pay attention to all their killing machines. Which doesn't help him, but is definitely our good fortune. If that bomb had gone off...' he shuddered again.

'They do seem very innovative when it comes to finding ways to kill each other don't they?' Sirius said.

'Yes - they do.'

'Their weapons are even better than their quills … Why do you think they are so very good at killing each other?'

'I don't know.'

The bus had travelled many miles and - as the sun began to set - it was just reaching it's stop at Jugovici, when suddenly the driver gave a cry and felt the wheel turn in his hands, as if by itself.

The bus pulled itself over to the side of the road. The pedals started pressing themselves, and the whole bus screeched to a halt and the handbrake came on all without the bus driver doing anything. He had just sat there - his hands held up in alarm, crying out.

And then the doors opened themselves - and he turned to look.

There was a very short, squat woman - with a face like a toad, and a bow in her hair which looked like nothing so much as a great, juicy fly - standing in the doorway. She stepped up onto the bus and brandished a short, stubby stick in his face. 'The two men - where are they?'

He stared at her helplessly - not understanding a word. She glanced behind her. A man wearing what looked like a big, heavy dress and a cloak got on behind her. 'Translate,' she barked at him.

The man in the dress spoke to the driver then. 'There were two men on the bus earlier today. What happened to them?' he asked in rapid Bosnian.

'There are lots of men on the bus,' the driver said. 'Which ones are you looking for?'

By now the toad woman was marching down the aisle. Her stubby little stick suddenly had a light sparkling at the top of it, and she was sticking it under people's noses and peering into their faces. 'They're not here,' she said. 'But they were. This bus has known magic.'

'Two young men,' the man in the dress said to the driver. 'Early 30s. Perhaps dressed like me. They would have had wands. They used magic. Here - in front of you all. You saw.'

'Magic?' The driver began to laugh. 'Magic isn't real. There were no magicians on the bus. Not now - not ever.'

'Look at their eyes,' the toad woman said to the man in the dress, and he abandoned the driver to go and stand beside her. 'See that blankness? They've been obliviated. All of them.'

'So they were here,' the man said. 'They were here, they performed magic, they wiped the memories of the muggles, and then they left. Why?'

'The question is not "why?"' Umbridge said, bristling with rage that Black and the halfbreed wolf had somehow disappeared again. 'The question is "where did they go?"' And her wide mouth turned down into a froggy frown as she pondered this puzzle.