moonlit05

Moonlit Horizons

Chapter five

By Dizmius.

A Remus Fic for a friend of mine

.

*^*

Grrrr, italics worked back there…. This is getting annoying. Okay, sorry about the cliffie, but I'd just got back from holiday, and was pretty dead on my feet. Oh yes, btw, for those who don't know, no I am not Anna; I'm not Ava either. I'm not in this fic, none of me is. I just write the darn thing.

*^*

Oh… shit. I never swear… maybe that just tells me something about the situation. I don't understand; if they're so fussed about catching Sirius and Remus for their own dastardly ends, why take her too? Sorry, stupid question, it's the bait. Traditional capture technique, you want a person, but cant get them, you get a friend, and they're courageous enough to fall right in the trap set because the friend means so ruddy much. Very typical and age-old trap, the bad thing is… it works every time. Every single time. Look at him; he's standing there with his jaw rock bottom, looking as if it's just been raining pigs. He was so happy a moment ago, but then again, so was I. If I ever meet Voldemort, which I have to admit I sincerely hope I won't, then I'll have to congratulate him on his impeccable timing in these things.

"Sirius?"

Sirius didn't move, or acknowledge he had heard Remus at all, he just stood there, staring at the space where moments earlier there had stood Anna.

Remus walked over to his friend and shook him back into reality. "Sirius, we need to do something, now!"

"What? Oh yes, do something…" Sirius mumbled blankly. "Write to Dumbledore, that'd be a good thing I think, then er… I don't actually know."

Remus frowned. Write to Dumbledore, that's what we always do. Surely he doesn't want to be bothered with every single worry of ours, no this time I think it'd be better to do this alone. But then again, we do need to know where they've taken her. Someone who knows the death eaters inside out…oh no… he's not going to like this.

"Sirius, we need to get in contact with Snape."

Had this been a happier situation, Sirius' face would have been priceless, but in the circumstances, it wasn't of importance. "No bloody way."

Exactly what I thought he'd say.

"We don't have a choice. He knows them, he knows what they'll do, where they are, he's our only chance of getting her back before they either kill her for a spot of Muggle torture, or she goes completely mental of her own accord."

Sirius didn't look convinced. "Do we have to? Is there no other way?"

"No other way." Remus answered truthfully. "We'll take Floo I think."

~*~

Whatever Severus Snape had been planning that day; it definitely was not having two of his most hated acquaintances tumble out of his grand marble fireplace during his lunch. He wondered for a moment how they knew his home Floo address, but then decided that he'd rather not know actually.

"What the hell do YOU want?" Snape glowered angrily.

Sirius snorted, "Good afternoon to you too, your Royal Highness."

Snape sneered, "I don't give sanctuary to homeless creatures, sorry to disappoint you."

Maybe if I just stay out of this one, I'll be able to appreciate the art of a childish argument. Remus coughed slightly, "We need your help."

Snape rolled his eyes; this was not a good day. "Alright, what have you two imbeciles done now?"

"Death eaters, two of them. They know where Remus lives, uh… Hagrid knew as well for some reason and sent us a note warning us, but we received it a bit too late. They took a Muggle Remus was um… talking to."

Remus threw Sirius a withering glance. "It'd be appreciated if you could give some insight into why they're after me, and where they'd hide her."

Snape stood up, and beckoned for Sirius and Remus to follow him.

He's acting like what I think James would have called - The Male Version of an Ice Queen. I wonder why he acts like that; it definitely isn't completely to do with the Marauders. He's been like this for as long as I can remember. Hmm, nice house he has, a bit on the grand side of things, that's too much money for you.

They followed Snape into a large room lined with books of all shapes and sizes. Remus looked at Sirius to see an expression of awe. Must be his library.

"Wait here." Snape motioned to some chairs. "And don't touch anything."

"No sir!" Sirius gave a little mock salute, earning him a glare from Snape.

"Sirius." Remus warned. "I know you don't like it asking him for any sort of favour, but you can see where I'm coming from yes?"

"Sort of maybe." Sirius glanced up at a large glittering chandelier. "Lives in style doesn't he. Reminds me of the sort of thing James' grandparents had."

Remus read a few of the leather bound book titles that were on the table, Destitute Curse Forewarnings, Apparition- trackings and wards, Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Very typical Snape-ish books to be reading. But no potions books, now there's an oddity. His thoughts were interrupted by Snape coming back into the room looking perhaps more glum than usual.

"They don't have any Muggle." Snape spat, "Nobody's captured a Muggle today, yesterday, or since Voldemort's resurrection as far as my contacts or indeed myself can see."

"Excuse me for being there and watching whilst two of your friends went off with a Muggle in my very presence." Sirius stood up abruptly, "You're not looking hard enough."

Remus decided that maybe it would be better to let Sirius vent his anger, then after the storm, try to calm things down.

"I hadn't finished." Snape said smoothly, ignoring Sirius's outburst. "Like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, they haven't captured any Muggle recently, however earlier this morning, lunchtime I should imagine, I was contacted by a death eater associate of mine."

"Malfoy." Sirius spat.

"Actually, no it wasn't." Snape raised an eyebrow; "They told me that my presence would be required at dusk as they have one of the Phaerrens in their capture."

"Phaerrens?" Sirius laughed, "The same Phaerrens that were deemed a fairy tale by so many sorcerers in the past?"

"Yes, the same." Snape nodded abruptly. "Now, this Muggle you were talking about, does she look anything like this?" Snape held out a piece of paper with a drawing roughly scratched onto the surface. "That's who Voldemort has in his capture."

Sirius and Remus shared a look. "Who drew this?" Remus asked.

"Oh, a good friend of yours, I believe." Snape smirked knowingly, "Not very good art, but it conveys the point rather well, don't you agree?"

"I didn't come here to discuss art." Sirius was almost screaming, "You're telling me Anna is in the same place as… PETER?"

"Aren't you the bright one today." Snape pulled out a chair, sitting down at the table. "So, your dear Muggle friend is not in fact Muggle at all. But one of the elusive Phaerrens. She's held within the dungeon chambers of the Riddle house. Chamber number eleven in fact. However, finding the chamber will prove more than difficult for someone who has no knowledge of the curses and dangers that lay within, I myself cannot and indeed would not want to go with you as it took me long enough to be accepted back into the fold, and finding that I was something to do with this, would ruin any chances Dumbledore has of me regaining my previous role."

Is it just me, or was that a flicker of pain in his face when he said that? Anna is a Phaerren, so that explains why Padfoot could show her through to the house. Phaerren. Keeper of a particular animal's soul, strength and senses. First discovered by the Ancient Egyptian Sorcerers, but considered a myth as no proof has since been found of their existence. Most show no magical talent whatsoever. I remember having the storybook when I was small.

"I understand." Remus nodded. You can tell, just by looking at Sirius that he's plotting ways to rid the Earth of Peter, not that I blame him in the slightest, but right now, we have a more pressing concern. If she is indeed a Phaerren then its unlikely that she will have a connection with the animal yet, and if Voldemort uses the Phaerren magic within her to attach to say… a Dementor, it would make him positively unbreakable. I wonder how they knew who she was. And how the hell did Hagrid know?

"So I can assume you'll be doing one of your oh so heroic plans to free it?"

Remus bristled. "She's a human, not just a thing that you can go round calling "it" in such a surly manner."

"Ah yes, how insensitive of me. I was forgetting, you've experience in the matter of being classified as an "it" haven't you." Snape smirked as Remus had to jump up to restrain Sirius from lashing out.

"We're leaving." Sirius said firmly, striding out through the door, making damn well sure that Remus was close behind.

Barbed coments, I'm used to them. Something I'll never get used to is the reaction that Sirius and James always had when someone threw a comment my way. Even Peter got all annoyed. And to think I once thought I'd never have any friends like those I had before.

How wrong one can be.

TBC

Sorry its short, I have If You Want To Destroy My Sweater to finish, which I left at an inconvenient point with Remus. I also have a Snape fic to publish called Diebus Fatalibus. It's a one parter, which means it'll be long. And!!!! I have to mesh together the HP5 extracts I've been writing to make one big book like thing.

Ta! To all those who've reviewed. Sorry! About last episode's cliffie, it wont happen again. I have a lot to write about this for part six. It'll be long. I promise!

Dizm.