Neither spoke for several minutes. Sirius was staring at a fallen book unable to believe what happened. James had sank down on the bed and he had his head in his hands. Remus was gone, how, why, it was impossible, thoughts were running through his head at full speed.
Finally Sirius spoke and he swore.
"How come I didn't hear?" James asked more to himself than to Sirius.
"Silencing Charms?"
James didn't respond.
"We need to contact Dumbledore."
They went to James' office and firecalled him. James sat in his chair and Sirius paced the room. "Albus Dumbledore." James said. They waited, "Professor Albus Dumbledore!" he said again growing impatient. "DUMBLEDORE!" James said again. There was no response.
"Wait Jonathon said something about Dumbledore not being able to fire call us," Sirius had been near the door and now he turned and pointed to the fireplace. "If he can't get to us, we can't contact him."
"Do you think its being watched?" James asked.
"We can't worry about that now," Sirius opened the door, "to Hogwarts we go."
James went into the dining room to speak with Lily and Sirius went to get dressed.
"Lily, don't use the fireplace for anything, Sirius and I will be back soon," James told her.
"What happened?" she asked standing up.
"Sirius and I think someone might be watching the fireplace and Voldemort took Remus. He's recruiting Dark Creatures again."
"How did they get Remus? Why didn't we hear anything?" Lily asked.
Faced with the same question James turned away. He didn't respond again. Instead he kissed her on the cheek, "We will be home as soon as we can."
He was joined by Sirius by the door and they grabbed their cloaks and went out. They flew to the gates of the Potter Mansion and still holding their broomsticks they disapparated. They apparated to Hogsmeade and mounting once again they flew up to school. At the doors they went in and went straight to Dumbledore's office.
"What's the password?" James asked as they got close.
"Last meeting it was Chocolate Frogs," Sirius said as they got up to it and the gargoyle opened. They went in and quickly went the stairs.
James knocked and they heard Dumbledore's voice telling them to enter. Dumbledore was in his office talking to Alastor Moody, he was frowning and James knew they had seen the Prophet.
Dumbledore looked up at them and greeted them.
"They took Remus," Sirius said at once.
"Why would he want Lupin?" Moody asked.
Dumbledore looked at the two Marauders and then at Moody, "Remus was bitten when he was 5 years old."
"He's a werewolf?" growled Moody.
"We've got to get him back," James interrupted. He didn't want to hear Moody's opinion of werewolves at that second.
"We have no idea where they were taken," Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I am waiting to hear from one of my spies, but I don't hold much faith that we will know so soon."
"We have to go now," James shook his head, it was not good enough. "Remus needs our help."
"Where is there James?" asked Dumbledore. "We don't know."
"I can't wait sir," James said fiercely. "Remus is my brother, I have a duty to him. He was in my house, under my protection. I will not let Voldemort do anything to him."
"James he can be anyway," pleaded Dumbledore.
"My duty is to Remus," James said again. "I don't care how it takes, I will find him."
"You can't blame yourself."
"You don't understand, no one enters the Mansion without me knowing. Only Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and I myself can. If someone tries to enter, a bell goes off. There is no way past this bell. Whoever took Remus... it was an inside job you could say."
There was silence after this statement. Dumbledore, Sirius and Moody all looked at James. James had sunk down in a chair. Finally Dumbledore spoke, in no more than a whisper, "How many people can go into the Mansion?"
"Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and myself. That's it." James said again.
"Can you get through with a disguise?" Moody asked. "A Potion or a charm?"
"No, as you walk through the gates it checks," James sighed.
"What if they controlled Remus?"
"No. I would know if any Dark Arts spells are being used. It detects the Imperious and all those," James shook his head.
There was silence in the room agin. They had run out of ideas. A few minutes later the silence was broken by a man in black robes who came stumbling into the room. In his hand was a black mask. James stood up but Dumbledore nodded to him.
"Sir, I just came from a meeting. I know where He has the Dark Creatures! They are in Albania, in the forest. His favorite forest."
James stood up. He motioned to Sirius, "We are off sir."
"No James," Dumbledore said again.
"I have to," James stood his ground. "Remus is my brother, he needs us." With that he left.
Sirius lingered for a moment, "Don't worry sir, we will be fine. We are the only ones who can get him out!" He went to the door and left.
Dumbledore watched them leave, "How though?" he spoke to the others.
"They are stupid sometimes those two bloody Gryffindors," Moody said shaking his head. "Always have the save the day."
"You were a Gryffindor weren't you Alastor?" asked Dumbledore turning to him.
"I didn't get in Gryffindor because of loyalty." Moody answered.
**
As quick as they could they made their way back to the Potter Mansion. At home Sirius talked to Rosy about getting food and James went to inform Lily about their plans. She knew that there was no way to stop them when it came to Remus. She nodded, kissed him and told him to be careful.
At the doors again, they were packed lightly and ready Lily hugged and kissed James again. She gave Sirius a hug and told them to watch out for each other. She knew they would be all right, they were the Marauders, they would get Remus back safely. Both men kissed Harry and they left.
At the gate of the Potter Mansion James took a deep breath and turned to Sirius, "You ready?
"Always." Sirius responded seriously.
"Wands out, stay alert," James instructed. He looked at Sirius and they both nodded. This was going to be the hardest thing they ever did, they thought. The forests of Albania were a favorite of Voldemort and only he knew exactly what was in the forest.
They disapparated.
They apparated, and they both still with their wands out turned around, alert and aware. No one was around and they looked in front of them at the big, dark trees and the forests of Albania. Both sighed and looked at each other, they nodded. They turned into their Animagus forms and entered. The huge, black dog and the silver stag walked forward as bravely as they could. They had not gotten far when they met their first obstacle. There in a clearing was two fifty foot snakes blocking their paths. The dog and the stag recoiled at once, the snakes opened their mouths and hissed and both animals knew they would have no trouble fitting in there.
With a pop they both changed back. With their wands out they wondered what to do. They couldn't run around, the snakes would catch them in a second and probably chase them. They would have to fight, they needed to keep going and fighting was the only way.
James bent and picked up a few stones from the ground. He enlarged them and threw them at the snakes, it did nothing but anger them.
"Can we try a few curses?" Sirius asked.
"Has to be better than this," James threw another one hitting the snake near the eye. The snake didn't even seem to notice the rock. "If we can get them to reveal their stomachs, I think that's where they aren't protected as well." James levitated himself up and floated above the snakes. One of the snakes rose trying to get at him. Sirius had his wand ready to attack. James teased the snake for a few minutes, trying to get it to rise, to reveal its stomach.
"STUPEFY!" Sirius yelled seeing the stomach.
The curse hit the snake. They both knew the snake felt the curse, the snake let out a hiss and its head and whipping all around. The snake's head came at James, he saw it but didn't move fast enough. The snake hit him and he fell to the ground. Sirius ran over to his friend.
James groaned and looked at Sirius, "That didn't work too well."
"Are you hurt?" asked Sirius.
"I don't think so," James shook his head. "Help me up." Sirius extended his hand and James took it. He pulled and James was back on his feet. "I feel a little dizzy." He admitted and reached out for Sirius' arm. They stood there for a minute while James got back together. The snakes didn't bother with them in this time.
"We need to keep going," Sirius sighed. "How do we get around them?"
"We will have to run," James said thinking out loud, "but we need an advantage."
"What if they can't see us?"
"Make ourselves invisible?" James asked.
"What if they can't see," Sirius pointed to their eyes. "We can blind them."
"How?" asked James.
There was silence, Sirius hadn't thought of that one.
"Wait," James picked up another stone and transfigured it into a dagger. "We can throw knives and get them in the eyes." He pocketed his wand and threw the knife. The hours of training he had done was going to pay off. The knife soared in the air and hit the snake in the eye. Sirius hit him on the back and as the snake hissed in pain, they both backed up to get out of the way. The other snake started to come forward and was looking like it was going to attack but James had thrown another knife. Now both of the snakes were hissing in pain and distracted.
"RUN!" James yelled to Sirius and they both turned into their animal forms and ran as fast as they could. Without looking back once they ran as they had never run before. They had no idea where they were going but as long as they were away from the snakes they were fine.
As night started to fall they stopped and changed back. They fell to the ground breathing heavily, tired from running. They didn't talk for a while but then Sirius brought up something that had been weighing heavily on James' mind.
"How long do you think it will take to find Remus?"
"I don't know," he answered truthfully. They went into the packs and got ate some food. They ate in silence, both too worried about Remus and finding him to talk too much. "Here why don't you try and sleep. I'll wake you when I can't stay awake any longer."
Sirius nodded, turned into a dog and went to sleep. James cleaned up and walked around close to their little camp. Where are you Remus? He thought. He sat down next to a tree and thought, he hoped Remus was fine, he couldn't let anything happen to him. He wished he could write to Lily to let her know they were fine but he didn't have an owl. He wasn't sure she was so safe at the Mansion, how did they get in? They shouldn't have been able to get in, he always knew when someone approached the gates. Did they control Remus somehow? Was he cursed when he had been out somewhere? Did they get a hold of him at the last attack? No... they couldn't have done that either, he knew if someone was being controlled in the house. Moody had put the Imperious on them once and the noises that made. The house elves didn't hear anything either, it was part of their job to protect the Mansion and they told him nothing happened. How did they get in? He sighed, he had a feeling, a weird feeling he would take that question to his grave. He turned into a stag to get more comfortable. He was too troubled to sleep, he looked at Sirius who was now snoring softly as a dog. Next he'll be having puppy dreams, James had to smile at this.
He must have fallen asleep as he sat lost in his thoughts. He smiled as he felt someone next to him. He thought of being in his own bed with Lily next to him. She moved closer to him and put her hand on his face. It felt nice and warm and.... hairy? He opened his eyes, 8 eyes were looking at him. He jumped and knocked into Padfoot who yelped.
James looked around, there were surrounded by spiders, large spiders. They had to be as big as the two Animagus. Prongs looked around, the sun was rising, he had slept all night. Prongs and Padfoot were now standing next to each other, the spiders were coming closer to them. He could see their reflection in their eyes.
He picked up their bag in his mouth and ran. His antlers hit the spiders and they plowed through them. James made a path for them with his antlers, tossing some of the spiders out of the way. Padfoot was close behind him and if possible they ran faster than they had the day before when escaping the spiders. The spiders started to chase them but the Animagus were faster and after about an hour they lost them.
They transformed and fell to the ground breathing heavily. James was shaking uncontrollable. They both had sweat running down their faces and Sirius' eyes were wide. They sat on the ground for almost 20 minutes too terrified and tired to move.
James finally found his voice, "That... was...close."
"Too close," Sirius agreed.
They made camp and spent most of the day resting. James was having a hard time shaking off the feeling he had when the spider had touched him and he had woken up.
The next day they set off not sure where they were. They transformed into their animal forms and Sirius sniffed around trying to pick up Remus's scent. All that day they walked and Sirius didn't pick up a thing. For the next four days they walked, it rained the whole thing making it very hard for Sirius to pick up Remus' scent. They knew the forest was huge and they had expected it to take a long time but they were growing anxious. What if they had done something to Remus?
Finally on the 6th day both soaking wet and tired and after many dead ends and false alarms Sirius led James to a huge clearing. There in the clearing was cages and in each cage was a person. Voldemort thinking that werewolves were beasts had put them in cages. There had to be a hundred cages, that were so small it was impossible to move once in them. Since it was not the full moon the werewolves were their human selves. Sirius and James' hearts dropped and the sight of them and Sirius had to take deep breathes to stop himself from throwing up. Some of the people were dead.
They were about to go in search of Remus but they heard human voices and both sank back into the bushes and they waited for night time.
Finally Sirius spoke and he swore.
"How come I didn't hear?" James asked more to himself than to Sirius.
"Silencing Charms?"
James didn't respond.
"We need to contact Dumbledore."
They went to James' office and firecalled him. James sat in his chair and Sirius paced the room. "Albus Dumbledore." James said. They waited, "Professor Albus Dumbledore!" he said again growing impatient. "DUMBLEDORE!" James said again. There was no response.
"Wait Jonathon said something about Dumbledore not being able to fire call us," Sirius had been near the door and now he turned and pointed to the fireplace. "If he can't get to us, we can't contact him."
"Do you think its being watched?" James asked.
"We can't worry about that now," Sirius opened the door, "to Hogwarts we go."
James went into the dining room to speak with Lily and Sirius went to get dressed.
"Lily, don't use the fireplace for anything, Sirius and I will be back soon," James told her.
"What happened?" she asked standing up.
"Sirius and I think someone might be watching the fireplace and Voldemort took Remus. He's recruiting Dark Creatures again."
"How did they get Remus? Why didn't we hear anything?" Lily asked.
Faced with the same question James turned away. He didn't respond again. Instead he kissed her on the cheek, "We will be home as soon as we can."
He was joined by Sirius by the door and they grabbed their cloaks and went out. They flew to the gates of the Potter Mansion and still holding their broomsticks they disapparated. They apparated to Hogsmeade and mounting once again they flew up to school. At the doors they went in and went straight to Dumbledore's office.
"What's the password?" James asked as they got close.
"Last meeting it was Chocolate Frogs," Sirius said as they got up to it and the gargoyle opened. They went in and quickly went the stairs.
James knocked and they heard Dumbledore's voice telling them to enter. Dumbledore was in his office talking to Alastor Moody, he was frowning and James knew they had seen the Prophet.
Dumbledore looked up at them and greeted them.
"They took Remus," Sirius said at once.
"Why would he want Lupin?" Moody asked.
Dumbledore looked at the two Marauders and then at Moody, "Remus was bitten when he was 5 years old."
"He's a werewolf?" growled Moody.
"We've got to get him back," James interrupted. He didn't want to hear Moody's opinion of werewolves at that second.
"We have no idea where they were taken," Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I am waiting to hear from one of my spies, but I don't hold much faith that we will know so soon."
"We have to go now," James shook his head, it was not good enough. "Remus needs our help."
"Where is there James?" asked Dumbledore. "We don't know."
"I can't wait sir," James said fiercely. "Remus is my brother, I have a duty to him. He was in my house, under my protection. I will not let Voldemort do anything to him."
"James he can be anyway," pleaded Dumbledore.
"My duty is to Remus," James said again. "I don't care how it takes, I will find him."
"You can't blame yourself."
"You don't understand, no one enters the Mansion without me knowing. Only Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and I myself can. If someone tries to enter, a bell goes off. There is no way past this bell. Whoever took Remus... it was an inside job you could say."
There was silence after this statement. Dumbledore, Sirius and Moody all looked at James. James had sunk down in a chair. Finally Dumbledore spoke, in no more than a whisper, "How many people can go into the Mansion?"
"Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and myself. That's it." James said again.
"Can you get through with a disguise?" Moody asked. "A Potion or a charm?"
"No, as you walk through the gates it checks," James sighed.
"What if they controlled Remus?"
"No. I would know if any Dark Arts spells are being used. It detects the Imperious and all those," James shook his head.
There was silence in the room agin. They had run out of ideas. A few minutes later the silence was broken by a man in black robes who came stumbling into the room. In his hand was a black mask. James stood up but Dumbledore nodded to him.
"Sir, I just came from a meeting. I know where He has the Dark Creatures! They are in Albania, in the forest. His favorite forest."
James stood up. He motioned to Sirius, "We are off sir."
"No James," Dumbledore said again.
"I have to," James stood his ground. "Remus is my brother, he needs us." With that he left.
Sirius lingered for a moment, "Don't worry sir, we will be fine. We are the only ones who can get him out!" He went to the door and left.
Dumbledore watched them leave, "How though?" he spoke to the others.
"They are stupid sometimes those two bloody Gryffindors," Moody said shaking his head. "Always have the save the day."
"You were a Gryffindor weren't you Alastor?" asked Dumbledore turning to him.
"I didn't get in Gryffindor because of loyalty." Moody answered.
**
As quick as they could they made their way back to the Potter Mansion. At home Sirius talked to Rosy about getting food and James went to inform Lily about their plans. She knew that there was no way to stop them when it came to Remus. She nodded, kissed him and told him to be careful.
At the doors again, they were packed lightly and ready Lily hugged and kissed James again. She gave Sirius a hug and told them to watch out for each other. She knew they would be all right, they were the Marauders, they would get Remus back safely. Both men kissed Harry and they left.
At the gate of the Potter Mansion James took a deep breath and turned to Sirius, "You ready?
"Always." Sirius responded seriously.
"Wands out, stay alert," James instructed. He looked at Sirius and they both nodded. This was going to be the hardest thing they ever did, they thought. The forests of Albania were a favorite of Voldemort and only he knew exactly what was in the forest.
They disapparated.
They apparated, and they both still with their wands out turned around, alert and aware. No one was around and they looked in front of them at the big, dark trees and the forests of Albania. Both sighed and looked at each other, they nodded. They turned into their Animagus forms and entered. The huge, black dog and the silver stag walked forward as bravely as they could. They had not gotten far when they met their first obstacle. There in a clearing was two fifty foot snakes blocking their paths. The dog and the stag recoiled at once, the snakes opened their mouths and hissed and both animals knew they would have no trouble fitting in there.
With a pop they both changed back. With their wands out they wondered what to do. They couldn't run around, the snakes would catch them in a second and probably chase them. They would have to fight, they needed to keep going and fighting was the only way.
James bent and picked up a few stones from the ground. He enlarged them and threw them at the snakes, it did nothing but anger them.
"Can we try a few curses?" Sirius asked.
"Has to be better than this," James threw another one hitting the snake near the eye. The snake didn't even seem to notice the rock. "If we can get them to reveal their stomachs, I think that's where they aren't protected as well." James levitated himself up and floated above the snakes. One of the snakes rose trying to get at him. Sirius had his wand ready to attack. James teased the snake for a few minutes, trying to get it to rise, to reveal its stomach.
"STUPEFY!" Sirius yelled seeing the stomach.
The curse hit the snake. They both knew the snake felt the curse, the snake let out a hiss and its head and whipping all around. The snake's head came at James, he saw it but didn't move fast enough. The snake hit him and he fell to the ground. Sirius ran over to his friend.
James groaned and looked at Sirius, "That didn't work too well."
"Are you hurt?" asked Sirius.
"I don't think so," James shook his head. "Help me up." Sirius extended his hand and James took it. He pulled and James was back on his feet. "I feel a little dizzy." He admitted and reached out for Sirius' arm. They stood there for a minute while James got back together. The snakes didn't bother with them in this time.
"We need to keep going," Sirius sighed. "How do we get around them?"
"We will have to run," James said thinking out loud, "but we need an advantage."
"What if they can't see us?"
"Make ourselves invisible?" James asked.
"What if they can't see," Sirius pointed to their eyes. "We can blind them."
"How?" asked James.
There was silence, Sirius hadn't thought of that one.
"Wait," James picked up another stone and transfigured it into a dagger. "We can throw knives and get them in the eyes." He pocketed his wand and threw the knife. The hours of training he had done was going to pay off. The knife soared in the air and hit the snake in the eye. Sirius hit him on the back and as the snake hissed in pain, they both backed up to get out of the way. The other snake started to come forward and was looking like it was going to attack but James had thrown another knife. Now both of the snakes were hissing in pain and distracted.
"RUN!" James yelled to Sirius and they both turned into their animal forms and ran as fast as they could. Without looking back once they ran as they had never run before. They had no idea where they were going but as long as they were away from the snakes they were fine.
As night started to fall they stopped and changed back. They fell to the ground breathing heavily, tired from running. They didn't talk for a while but then Sirius brought up something that had been weighing heavily on James' mind.
"How long do you think it will take to find Remus?"
"I don't know," he answered truthfully. They went into the packs and got ate some food. They ate in silence, both too worried about Remus and finding him to talk too much. "Here why don't you try and sleep. I'll wake you when I can't stay awake any longer."
Sirius nodded, turned into a dog and went to sleep. James cleaned up and walked around close to their little camp. Where are you Remus? He thought. He sat down next to a tree and thought, he hoped Remus was fine, he couldn't let anything happen to him. He wished he could write to Lily to let her know they were fine but he didn't have an owl. He wasn't sure she was so safe at the Mansion, how did they get in? They shouldn't have been able to get in, he always knew when someone approached the gates. Did they control Remus somehow? Was he cursed when he had been out somewhere? Did they get a hold of him at the last attack? No... they couldn't have done that either, he knew if someone was being controlled in the house. Moody had put the Imperious on them once and the noises that made. The house elves didn't hear anything either, it was part of their job to protect the Mansion and they told him nothing happened. How did they get in? He sighed, he had a feeling, a weird feeling he would take that question to his grave. He turned into a stag to get more comfortable. He was too troubled to sleep, he looked at Sirius who was now snoring softly as a dog. Next he'll be having puppy dreams, James had to smile at this.
He must have fallen asleep as he sat lost in his thoughts. He smiled as he felt someone next to him. He thought of being in his own bed with Lily next to him. She moved closer to him and put her hand on his face. It felt nice and warm and.... hairy? He opened his eyes, 8 eyes were looking at him. He jumped and knocked into Padfoot who yelped.
James looked around, there were surrounded by spiders, large spiders. They had to be as big as the two Animagus. Prongs looked around, the sun was rising, he had slept all night. Prongs and Padfoot were now standing next to each other, the spiders were coming closer to them. He could see their reflection in their eyes.
He picked up their bag in his mouth and ran. His antlers hit the spiders and they plowed through them. James made a path for them with his antlers, tossing some of the spiders out of the way. Padfoot was close behind him and if possible they ran faster than they had the day before when escaping the spiders. The spiders started to chase them but the Animagus were faster and after about an hour they lost them.
They transformed and fell to the ground breathing heavily. James was shaking uncontrollable. They both had sweat running down their faces and Sirius' eyes were wide. They sat on the ground for almost 20 minutes too terrified and tired to move.
James finally found his voice, "That... was...close."
"Too close," Sirius agreed.
They made camp and spent most of the day resting. James was having a hard time shaking off the feeling he had when the spider had touched him and he had woken up.
The next day they set off not sure where they were. They transformed into their animal forms and Sirius sniffed around trying to pick up Remus's scent. All that day they walked and Sirius didn't pick up a thing. For the next four days they walked, it rained the whole thing making it very hard for Sirius to pick up Remus' scent. They knew the forest was huge and they had expected it to take a long time but they were growing anxious. What if they had done something to Remus?
Finally on the 6th day both soaking wet and tired and after many dead ends and false alarms Sirius led James to a huge clearing. There in the clearing was cages and in each cage was a person. Voldemort thinking that werewolves were beasts had put them in cages. There had to be a hundred cages, that were so small it was impossible to move once in them. Since it was not the full moon the werewolves were their human selves. Sirius and James' hearts dropped and the sight of them and Sirius had to take deep breathes to stop himself from throwing up. Some of the people were dead.
They were about to go in search of Remus but they heard human voices and both sank back into the bushes and they waited for night time.
