Definition Of A Wolf

Part Nine.

Disclaimer: I own them not.

Dedication: To Novek Dace, Apocalyptic Kittens, IWD and vodka shots with passion fruit.

***

Thuban Black had not had a good day so far. Julian had dragged him half-way across the country, he wasn't totally sure why, he hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday, Ella had been left all alone in London, and it was six a.m. and he wasn't tucked up in bed. Now, on top of all this, he was face- to-face with his estranged brother.

"S-Sirius," he stuttered, trying to maintain eye contact with his younger sibling. "What're you doing here?"

Sirius stared blankly at Thuban, then his gaze moved to the man next to him. "Julian Jackson?"

Julian nodded once. His eyes were narrowed, and he stared at Sirius like a hawk. He was a tall man, lightly built, red-haired and blue eyed. For some reason, Sirius got a strange tingling, hostile sensation from their eye contact. He fought down an involuntary shudder.

"Where's your pet wolf, Black?" Julian growled, pushing his way into the shack.

"Get out," Sirius snapped. He glared at Thuban. He could barely bring himself to talk to his elder brother.

"We're going nowhere without a wolf pelt," said Thuban, raising his chin in defiance. "That creature, Sirius, he ruined you. Let us sort him out. We'll get rid of him for you, then you can come back with us - "

"Shut up," said Julian shortly. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Thuban blinked at him. "But that's what we planed -"

"I've changed the plans. Lupin lives until I say."

Julian shoved Sirius aside and stormed towards the stairs. Remus, hidden behind the banister, had not time to make a run for it before Julian was upon him. Remus staggered to his feet.

"Julian -" he began.

Something black and furry shot up the stairs and hit Julian full in the back, bowling him over. As he fell, he seemed to shift and contort, becoming inhuman, beast-like, then finally canine.

Sirius and Julian hit the floor in a rolling heap of black and white fur. Teeth gashed and claws slashed, and Remus watched in wide-eyed horror. Finally, Thuban stumbled up the stairs, wand in hand, and shot several curses at Sirius all at once. Sirius was jerked back into his human form, and hung suspended in the air, a foot above the floor and very close to the edge of the railing. He struggled for a moment, then gave up and simply hung there, snarling.

Julian shook out his fur, and became human. Thuban and Sirius stared at him in disbelief. Remus buried his face in his hands.

"You're one of *them*?" Thuban gasped.

"Oh, shut up," spat Julian. "I'm through with you. Get out of here."

"But -"

Julian's wand arm swung out and he shot a curse at Thuban, who froze, immobile.

"You're an Animagus," growled Sirius, dangling.

"That's right," said Julian.

"Not that that matters. Remus!" The werewolf glanced up. Sirius waved an arm at Julian. "This man killed your daughter!"

Remus was already pale and shaking, but now seemed to become more so. He shook his head once.

"I don't believe it," he muttered.

"Oh, you can believe it," said Julian. "I'll admit it to any court."

Remus' head shook again. "You wouldn't. No, no, you didn't . . ."

"You *know* this bastard?" Sirius demanded.

"Shut up, Black," said Julian dismissively. He was watching Remus intently. The werewolf's gaze failed to meet his. "Remus? You believe me. Of course you believe me. I did it. And you know why too."

"The girl was a werewolf," supplied Sirius. "That was your only reason."

Julian's head snapped round. "I told you to shut up!" he roared. "Remus and I . . ." he turned back to Remus and touched his white face with a finger, almost fondly. "Remus and I have a lot of catching up to do."

A tear rolled down Remus' cheek. Julian wiped it gently away, but a small sneer scuttled across his face. "Don't cry, Lupin," he said, as if talking to a child. "It all makes sense, doesn't it?"

Remus shut his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sirius," he murmured.

"Why?" Sirius asked, trying to stop himself from gently spinning in mid- air. "What for?"

"I - I didn't know," Remus babbled. "He didn't tell me, I couldn't help it . . ."

Julian grinned. "I think what Remus is trying to say is, he's changed his mind about whatever cosy little set-up the two of you have. I expect he'll say the word for me to let you drop soon." He peered over the banister at the long drop to the marble floor below.

"You're mad," Remus growled.

"No, no, no," said Julian. The fingers of one hand curled round Remus' chin, lifting it so he could look into his eyes. "I'm not mad. I never was mad, and I'm not now." He leaned closer so that Remus could hardly focus on his face. Then Julian was kissing him, badly and it hurt. He had a tight grip on Remus' arm, his nails drawing blood from the bruised skin. "I was never mad," Julian hissed into Remus mouth. "I was in love."

An inhuman sound rose in Sirius' throat. "Mine!" he howled, meaning Remus. "MINE! Let him GO!"

To Remus' surprise, Julian did as he was told. He released his grip on Remus like a spring pinging back, and the werewolf stumbled into the wall, sprawling and fighting for his balance. He could scarcely believe what was happening, and now he was going to have to explain it all to Sirius.

"Julian didn't tell me," he whispered again.

"Tell you what?" Sirius demanded.

"That he's an Animagus. I didn't find out until afterwards."

Julian smirked. "Fair's fair, old fellow, you didn't say you were a werewolf either."

"I don't get it," said Sirius. "Start from the beginning, Remus."

Remus blinked away the last of his tears. He glared at Julian, then his gaze came to rest on Sirius.

"Julian and I . . . Look, Sirius, I was all alone, and . . ."

"I'll do it," said Julian. "You're obviously in no state to remember so much as your name. Darling," he added as an afterthought.

Sirius glared as Julian stalked towards him, but he listened in silence.

"He wasn't alone, for a start," said Julian. "That's a classic excuse, but it doesn't count here because it was his stag night of all things. And he was sitting there in this pub with a bunch of lads from work, or whatever, looking so bloody obvious . . . I mean, this was his stag night, right, and he was totally ignoring the bloody stripper and gazing at some bloke to the left of her." Julian paused, grinned. "Flipping obvious," he emphasised. "And there was I sitting at the bar, watching the charade, thinking, 'let's give the poor bastard a break, why not invite him home?'. It was a sympathy thing, you know? I didn't know he was a bleeding werewolf, did I!"

"What's the difference?" Sirius growled.

"Difference? Well, their kind mate for life, right. Well known fact. And it's wrong. They only mate for life with another wolf. Or dog. Or someone with striking canine qualities. You and me, as a matter of fact. Canine Animagi are prime mate-material. And all it takes is one night of frenzied passion, one bleeding night . . ."

"He's my mate," Remus blurted out, from his slouched position by the wall.

"Mate my arse," muttered Julian. "Next time I saw Remus he was married. I'd been searching high and low for weeks when I finally met him in that pub again."

"It wasn't a conscious choice," muttered Remus.

"No," said Julian. "That's true, it wasn't. There we were, the two of us, having the time of our lives - weren't we, Remus, yes we were - and his bloody wolf gets some mad idea into its head, mine too. It's like a separate entity, you know what I mean, Black. The hound has its own ideas. As for me, I spend more time as a wolf than I do human. Or I did then. But on with the story. Remus avoided me for a couple of weeks, did a pretty good job of it, actually. But we both knew he couldn't hide forever. A mate's for life - *life*, d'you hear, Black? Lupin's mine. He always will be. He couldn't resist me. It's in the blood. A mate's purpose is to help you survive, to look out for you, to hunt with you, and you do the same for him. It is a bond so strong there is no comparison to it. If you're separated, you seek each other out, fighting and defeating anything that comes between you. That's why Remus came back for me. He needed me."

Sirius glanced at Remus, who was crouched down against the wall, conducting an intense study of the woodwork. It was all true. Remus would have denied it if it wasn't.

"Then what?" Sirius whispered.

"Then he kept it hush-hush," said Julian simply. "Told his wife I was a friend from work, slept with me in secret. She had me round for dinner every Sunday, that wife of his. I was part of the family." He sneered at Remus, who had eyes only for the skirting board. It seemed to fascinate him. He didn't even blink.

"I kind of liked it," said Julian. "It was fun. A game, if you like. We were very good at hiding what we had, Remus and I. No one ever suspected . . . And, of course, at full moon I was company. He told me how his friends would transform with him, how it made things so much easier, so I took up that responsibility. . . "

Sirius started to growl, but Julian didn't notice. He gazed at Remus again. His eyes seemed to un-focus slightly.

"Then he threw me out," he said. "With no good reason, either. I got angry. Very angry. He told me - "

"I never loved you," said Remus, without looking up.

"Yeah," hissed Julian. "That was it exactly."

"I love Sirius. I always have."

"Doesn't matter now. His brother wants to kill him. You want to stop him? You, in your weakness? Doesn't matter. Black dies. He's a criminal, doesn't matter what proof you have in favour of him." There was a mad glint in Julian's eyes. He turned to Remus once more. "Why?" he said. "Just tell me why."

Remus' gaze finally met his. It was rock solid and fathoms deep. Then the werewolf looked at Sirius, still floating there above the drop.

"I just . . ." he whispered. His voice caught. He took a deep breath. "You know the answer, Sirius. You know what I've always wanted, the only thing I always wanted . . ."

Sirius nodded. "You wanted to be normal."

Realisation dawned in Julian's eyes. He sneered again. "Normal? *you*, Normal? Remus, you area grade A freak! A gay werewolf! Probably the only one in existence, too. You turn into a savage, man-eating beast at full moon, the rest of the time you're a confused wreak! We've been watching you. We've got eyes close to the ground. A small, ratty friend of ours seems to know a hell of a lot about you, and none of it seems very normal to me!"

"Neither is killing your ex-lover's family!" Sirius snarled.

Remus looked up at him. "You don't have to stand up for me, Padfoot," he sighed wearily. "Besides, I don't believe he did it - "

"WHAT?" Screeched Julian. "I don't believe this!"

"Julian, you wouldn't -"

"Oh, yes I would, Remus! And I did! Could I lie to you, my mate?"

Slowly, Remus shook his head. A hopeless anger rose up in his eyes, but he shook his head again, trying to dislodge any emotions. "Please, just go," he murmured.

"Go?" Hissed Julian. "How can I? You want this - this floating idiot as a lover. How can you if I just go?" He moved closer to Remus. There was the velvety slithering sound of a blade shooting out of it's hiding place in his sleeve. "You want to break this life-bond between us? In that case, one of us must die. Who'd you think it should be, eh? Want to flip a coin?" He produced such an object. "Heads or tails, Lupin?"

Remus stared at the coin. Then he stared at Julian. Then his gaze slipped to the blade which was now pressed against his side. In the sparkling clarity of one who knows he's about to die, he got to wondering where Linda had gotten to with help.

Sirius growled, breaking the silence. "Lay a finger on him, and I'll rip you apart."

Julian turned to face him, blade still pressed against Remus' side. A small smile passed over his face. His wand arm flicked out, and Thuban sprung back to life.

"Now's your chance, Thuban," he said quietly. "Get rid of your useless brother."

"You *are* mad!" Remus screamed.

"Maybe," said Julian.

Just then, several things happened all at once. We shall run through them in slow motion.

First of all, Thuban raised his crossbow with the silver-tipped arrow. Secondly, Remus let out some kind of animal noise from deep in his throat, and pushed at Julian. The knife lanced into his side, but he didn't feel it. He launched himself at Sirius. About now, the door opened, and Linda rushed in, closely followed by Dumbledore, Snape and various other members of staff, but no one noticed them.

Julian rushed after Remus, but unlike Remus, stopped short of the railings.

Thuban glared at his brother, the traitor, the shame to his family's name. He aimed. He fired.

Remus' leap concluded with his throwing his arms around Sirius. His fall, however, started soon after. The crossbow bolt glanced off his shoulder, ripping his robes but little else, and he and Sirius plummeted downwards. Before they hit the floor, Remus twisted sharply so that Sirius would land on him and not vice-versa.

Not for the first time in the past few days, the world according to Remus Lupin went black.

To Be Continued . . .

***

A/N: Okay. That was . . . probably not what you expected. I didn't expect it either. Blame my bath: all kinds of plot bunnies popup in the bath, this one amongst them. I was going to have some cheesy Linda related plot with fluffy werewolf stuff then a Siri/Rem happily-ever-after. . . but this one wouldn't go away.

So now Remus knows the killer and has won Sirius' heart. But don't be fooled - it's not over yet!

I'd also like to thank my reviewers once more, but if I want this posted today I'll have to with-hold most of the individual comments (damn limited computer-use!).

Thanks as always to Lady Midnight, who's simply lovely! And to Padfootwolfboy, who found my muse! **Holds up muse** Dace and I christened him Gulerod, which is Danish for carrot. Also howdy to Dace, who now has a ff.net account (penname Novek Dace).

Will post next part as soon as it's written.

~Smithy~