To Paris

Chapter VII: What Peter Did

Part One

Remus had chickened out.

Who am I fooling? he thought wearily.

He sighed deeply and stared at the sign above him.

"Paris."

The trip to Sirius's had taken longer than he had expected. The sun had begun to dip into the horizon. Remus sighed once more as he slowly approached the ticket office.

"One please. To Paris."

Remus fumbled with the doorknob. Everything was dark. He struggled to find a light.

"Urgh," he moaned, grabbing his knee.

Suddenly, he could see. A tall, blonde-haired man stood before him.

Remus blinked and scratched his head.

"Remus..." the man mumbled to himself.

"Christian-- ah-- I tried knocking, but no one answered, and-"

"Save it... Sirius isn't here," the man barked.

Remus bit his lip.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to warn him, and you about Peter..."

Christian ran a hand through his hair. Remus noticed a small black tattoo under his bicep.

"Sirius left earlier tonight. He isn't here," Christian repeated.

Remus narrowed his eyes.

"Peter Pettigrew isn't the most powerful of wizards, but he is certainly not to be underestimated. He's gone into a jealous rage and-"

"I'm sure you know all about those..." Christian whispered under his breath.

Remus clentched his teeth.

"And I'd suggest that both you and Sirius be on the look out for him. Do you know when Sirius will return?"

"No. And I don't care, either. I'll give him your message."

Christian's green eyes stared into Remus's.

Something about him isn't right...

"You can go now," Christian stated, folding his arms.

Remus backed out into the hallway and closed the door. He reached into his robe and pulled out the train ticket to Paris.

I should've just gone back, but I had to know. Sirius wasn't here... I suppose that means something. It wasn't fate. It wasn't meant to be.

Remus turned, and froze. A swirling mass of black and blue glowed in front of him. He saw Peter's face, and heard a voice in his head.

"Why did you have to do that, Moony? Things would've been okay... They will be, now. I've fixed it all. Do you know where Sirius is? Why don't you ask James? He should know."

An evil laugh filled his head followed by a deafening screeching.

Remus shut his eyes closed and grabbed his ears in pain.

Instantly, it stopped. Remus opened his eyes. He was on a train back to Paris.

Did... any of that happen? he wondered. What was it Peter said? 'Do you know where Sirius is? Why don't you ask James?'

"What was that supposed to mean?" he questioned himself out loud.

Remus returned home and collapsed onto his bed again. He glanced outside his window and noticed the sun had just set.

There is something very wrong going on here... Either I'm going insane or someone is messing with time... But for what reason?

He looked out his window and Penelope, Sirius's owl, stared back at him with big yellow eyes.

Remus gazed for a moment longer and swore he saw the image of Peter in them.

Seconds later, Penelope flew away, the full moon taking her place.

The fact that Remus was staring into a full moon hadn't registered until he began to change. He had tried to apparate somewhere, anywhere, but had no way of knowing if he was successful or not.

He awoke in cold concrete room.

"Where did you find him?"

"On the roof of his residence. We think he apparated a couple hundred feet above it."

Remus's head was ringing. His vision was blurred and his hearing was muffled, but he could still make out the words of the two men standing in the room with him.

"Why in God's name would you do such a thing, Remus?"

"It's safe to assume he had... 'forgotten' about the full moon and was attempting to prevent himself from doing harm to others."

"By trying to kill himself?"

Remus shifted and one of the men placed a hand on his shoulder.

Lightly shaking him, "Remus. Remus, wake up. It's Cornelius."

Remus came to and sat up. He was lying on the floor of a cell, dressed in old robes. Both of the men were wearing official Ministry robes.

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A/N: I split the seventh chapter into two parts because it was too big. It unbalanced the rest of the chapters. I'm not completely finished with the seventh chapter since so much happens in it, but I wanted to post something.