Moonlit Horizons – Chapter 28

http://www.geocities.com/halutirius/moonlithorizons

for spoilers on future chapters, art from the chapters and random thoughts… 

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Ok, I didn't particularly like the last one which was why it took so damn long for me to write.  This continues straight on from that.

Over 100 reviews, yay! I've never had a fic that's done that before, woohoo!

AKA Charlie Brown were amazing last night!!! I'm so glad I went to the gig!!

My Ex B/f appears in this Chapter, and will feature in some random chapters in the future.  His name appears as it is in real life.

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"I know how the story goes…"

"But d… do y…y…you?"

Remus and Anna stopped in their tracks.  Voices.  One angry and frustrated, the other frightened.  Remus recognised them both.  Voices that harked back to many years ago.  Voices that reminded him of a youth lost to grief and treachery.  Remus pulled Anna towards the foggy outlines of two figures.  Sirius was bearing down upon the crouched figure of Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew. Sirius looked like he was exercising a great burden of self control not to lash out at the traitor who caused the deaths of his two best friends and left his godson an orphan.

"Sirius." Remus threw the cloak aside and hurried up to meet his friend.

"Look what I found." Sirius spat angrily.

"R…Remus!" Peter stuttered, looking up with a pathetically hopeful face at his old friend.  "You… you're always… always the sen…sensible one of us…"

"THERE IS NO US!" Sirius yelled, clenching his fists, he glared up at the sky, not visible through the dense fog.

"Peter, perhaps you have forgotten your past?" Remus asked, himself becoming uncharacteristically angry.

"Perhaps we should kill him now, just us.  The TRUE friends within the marauders." Sirius suggested, reaching into his pocket for his wand.

"For once… I will agree with you.  We should have done this a long time ago."

"No!" Pettigrew whimpered. "NOOO! Somebody… please… p… please…. SOMEBODY HELP ME…. P…PLEAAAASE!?"

Remus faltered as he heard Anna gasp in horror of what Remus and Sirius were out to do.

"If we kill him… you may never become free," Remus muttered to Sirius.

"That's a chance I am more than ready to risk taking." Sirius growled back, his grasp on his wand was unnervingly tight.

"But would you risk your loved ones?"

Remus and Sirius jumped as a tall sallow faced man appeared out of the mist… he wore faded grey robes with patches here and there, but it did not counter his tall impressive figure, even if he did look half starved. 

"Ah yes.  How I remember you both… Strange how life changes is it not?  And you, Black.  You should know exactly what I am feeling.  You went through the same… for approximately the same amount of time… And here we both stand.  Sane.  Is it not a miracle?"

"Lestrange… Alan Lestrange." Sirius gawped.  The Lestranges had been in the cell opposite him in Azkaban.  Surely they had not returned with their minds in one piece?

Remus took an involuntary step backwards, he remembered all too well how much of a bully Alan Lestrange used to be.  One year ahead of them at Hogwarts, Alan had excelled in his Quidditch playing, but almost disappeared after graduation, lost to the darkness of the world that was ruled by Lord Voldemort.  There were two of them…  Alan Lestrange and Timothy Alsop.  The Slytherin Bullies who ruled their house until their departure.  Many times had they both come so close to facing expulsion, but it had never happened.  Timothy Alsop was a quieter character, but equally as vicious.  Distinctive with his goatee that he decided to grow near the end of his seventh year, he preferred focusing his energies into hatred and the dark arts rather than classes.  Few people understood him, but Remus could recall Draezyc having a relationship with him at one time, only to be thrown aside due to petty reasons that nobody ever really understood.  After graduation Timothy had all but vanished.  Nobody knew who's side he was on as he seemed to remain neutral to the public eye, but deep inside he was part of Voldemort's efforts.  There had been a rumour many years back that during his early twenties Tim had formed a musical band, 'Batch 69', and had refocused his hatred for life through his hardcore music…  A flick of Lestrange's wrist brought Remus back to the present.

"For all this, there is only one thing you should know..."  Lestrange was twirling his wand between his fingers.  "It puzzles me as to why you wish to kill the creature that brought back the person you were trying to hard to save.  And especially when you could barter him with your Auror that our Lord plans to kill mercilessly."

"Edea!" Sirius fell to his knees. "No!"

"Turnabout is fair play, no?" Lestrange laughed.  "Do you not wish to tell your part in the tale of glory, Wormtail?"

Peter shivered, then sae the gleam in Alan's eye.  He could also remember how often he had been the target of Lestrange and Alsop's attacks.  "My… Master… he sent… he sent me… and Timothy Alsop… on a journey… to … to.. to…"

"Get ON with it." Alan rolled his eyes dramatically.  "Honestly, any slower and the snails would be overtaking you."

"To Azkaban." Peter gulped, as if not wanting to relive the memory.  "B…because S… S… Severus had told his Lordship of… Draezyc's capture… and of the Auror… And… And… Draezyc… is… powerful… my... master does not want… want… to lose her... so easily… to the Aurors."

Remus glanced at Sirius.  "Why?" He paused, "Why did you free her…"

"Perhaps it is taking longer to reach that thick skull of yours than it is for Wormtail here to convolute a sentence." Lestrange answered curtly, "But what he's trying to tell you is that… Draezyc Snape is part of a large plan to rid the wizarding world of Muggle Filth… Azkaban is rightfully the Dementor's grounds, we simply gave it back to those who owned it first.  We can give them a much better selection of victims than simply Azkaban prisoners, as you know very very well, Black.  I must congratulate you on your cunning escape…  And I must congratulate myself on my art of insanity… You surely did not believe Azkaban could possibly affect me? After the hardship I went through to gain the position I once had at his Lordship's side?  Here is your deal, from Lord Voldemort himself if you so wish to believe it.  We shall trade your precious Auror for Wormtail here… You have very little time… Perhaps under half an hour now before we must leave… We are not as foolish as to commit homicide right under Dumbledore's nose… And he returns with the first possible mode of transport… If you do not complete the transaction before the stroke of 30 minutes, then we shall leave with your Auror, and you can rest assured that she will not survive the night…"

Sirius was blinking in disbelief as Lestrange turned and left into the mist the same way as he had arrived.

"I don't think we can defer to any other alternative, Sirius." Remus sighed.  "We will have other chances to capture him, I promise you." Remus looked disdainfully at the cowering form of Pettigrew and muttered – "Stupefy!"

*^*

Remus refused to let Anna follow them unless she remained under the invisibility cloak.  If Voldemort was to see Anna, he would surely try to recapture her as well… And one life at risk was enough for tonight.  The fog had melted into a soft mist as dusk fell within a short period of time after Lestrange had left.

Remus and Sirius walked through dense thicket bushes and past clusters of trees floating Pettigrew beside them, bound with thick ropes.

"Lupin… Black…" Snape looked cautiously around them before walking briskly towards them… "This is madness, what on Earth do you think you're doing?"

"We can't let him keep Edea… What do you THINK we're doing, scumbag?" Sirius threw a disgusted look at Severus.  "Happy now? Your wife's out in the open again and because of that, my fiancée is probably being tortured beyond imagination… You may be devoid of compassion in any form but this is the only way…"

"It's not.  You're walking right into a trap, you fools!  You walk into his presence with Pettigrew and I swear you won't return alive, do you think Voldemort is going to just set you free and give you DuCruet?  How foolish can you get?  Once he has you within his clutches his path to Potter is going to be even clearer than before." Snape grasped Remus by the shoulders.  "Do you not understand what I am telling you, Lupin?"

"We have a hidden weapon." Anna took off the hood of Harry's invisibility cloak… "Me."

"Oh no… no no no." Remus was shaking his head.  "Once he sees you… you can't… I won't let you…"

"You're not my master, and I can do as I please." Anna retorted,

Snape looked surprised, then smiled slightly in the dim light.   "You have an admirable spirit for someone so unknowledgeable in the ways of dark."

"Yeah, 'cause you could do so much better." Sirius rolled his eyes in disgust.  "We don't have much time left,"

"I think Severus is right… We could be walking right into one of Voldemort's traps." Remus nodded towards Pettigrew.  "There must be another way."

Snape suddenly clutched onto his forearm… "I must go… Plan wisely.  If you fail and Potter is left alone, however much it may pain me to say it… Potter cannot do anything against Voldemort by himself…"  He disappeared into the dark space between the trees and bushes.

"What was with the arm clutching?" Sirius frowned… "Never seen that before…"

Remus shrugged. "What are we going to do?"

"Keep walking might be a good start, no?"  Anna offered, nudging Remus's shoulder forward.

"I suggest we do as he wants us to… We don't have the time to create some elaborate Marauder plan.  We're running out of time fast." Sirius muttered, and he purposefully strode forward.  "And then.  Then, we find Harry.  He is around here somewhere, if not already back up at the castle."

"What's that?" Remus listened intently to some mournful music that seemed to haunt the air.

"That sounds scarily like Mozart's Amadeus Requiem…. About eight minutes in…" Anna replied… "I'd recognise that chanting anywhere."

"Why is the forest playing Mozart?" Sirius frowned.  He needn't have asked as in front of him came a procession of over sized spiders, carrying the body of one giant Spider between them.  "Bloody motherfu…." Sirius was silenced by Remus clamping a hand over Sirius' mouth.

"Aragog… Aragog… Aragog…. Timeo… Timeo… Timeo… Aragog… Aragog… Aragog…" The spiders changed their chant as they scuttled slowly past Siruis, who was haking, pointing at the large spider with a look of horror on his face.

Remus had to smile faintly, even under the circumstances, Sirius was scared spineless of spiders.

Once the procession had passed, Anna disappeared under the invisibility cloak, and Remus pushed Sirius down the dirt path, their pace quickening.

They soon reached a clearing, the magical barrier was no longer in place.  The grove looked deserted, but it was too silent to be true.  In the middle stood a large stone tablet, streaked in fresh blood.  Before Remus could stop him, Sirius had ran forward into the grove, skidding to a halt at the tablet.  Remus was more wary, and scanned the surrounding foliage before tentatively walking after his friend.

Sirius pointed to carvings in the drenched stone, he read it out in an emotionally cracked voice "I know how to hurt, I know how to heal.  I know what to show and what to conceal…" The writing continued, "I know when to talk and I know when to touch.  Not one never died from wanting to much…" he paused.  "Moony, I don't understand."

Remus sucked in a deep breath… Then ran a hesitant finger through the pool of blood within one of the carved words. "Sirius… it's still warm…"

Sirius's eyes widened in denial and horror, he shook his head slowly, mouthing silent words.

Remus turned round to unbind Pettigrew, but the grove was empty once again.  Pettigrew's hovering body was no longer where Remus had left it… Surely Anna would have said something… Done something…

"Scared, Wolf?"

Remus spun round to come face to face with a tall man, his short hair contrasted with his neatly kept goatee.  His eyebrows cast deep shadows over his eyes, making him look all too sinister.

"Alsop." Remus croaked, stepping backwards over a broken tree branch.  He glanced at Sirius who seemed fixated with the Blood Streaked Stone… had Sirius even heard Timothy Alsop appear? Surely he had.

Suddenly Remus felt very alone.

"He won't hear you." Timothy followed Remus' eye line to Sirius.  "he's too busy putting two and two together.  The stone has a silencing barrier surrounding it that works very much like the Imperius Curse… He couldn't help you even if he wanted to."

"Why are you doing this?" Remus backed away further, hitting a tree trunk.

"If we can't have it all, then nobody will." Timothy stated simply.  "The world seems a lot less safe when you are alone… Do you feel safe, Wolf? Do you feel ready?" he taunted, smirking. "Can you associate?"

"Associate THIS!" A voice screamed out from behind him.

Timothy Alsop turned around in time to get hit full round the face by a thick tree branch that seemed to be floating in mid air.  Remus glanced at the space beside the branch… "Thank you." He whispered before running towards Sirius, and trying to tug at his friend's arm. 

"NO!" Sirius threw Remus aside… "I can see her… I can see everything… You can't stop me…" he had a glazed expression that reminded Remus strongly of some of the Muggle drunkards he had seen lounging in shop doorways in London late at night.  Remus tried again, this time getting slapped round the head by his friend.

"Sirius this is CRAZY! You're bewitched!" Remus shouted at Sirius, trying to shake him back to reality.  Hit by a thought of inspiration, Remus pulled out his wand as Sirius gripped onto the stone.  "EXPELLIARMUS!"

Sirius and the stone flew apart, Sirius hit the grass with a thud and groaned as he rolled over.  "Moony?" He rubbed his jaw, wincing slightly… "What was that?"

"I don't know… but I don't suggest we touch it again." Remus glanced around him and was about to speak when he did a double take.  Not only had Pettigrew disappeared but Alsop too.  He had fallen to the floor but was no longer there, just an indent in the grass where his body had been.  "Something is wrong with this place… I don't know what it is, but I don't like it."

"Where's the Rat?" Sirius glanced around him. "Surely… he was just here…"

"Things keep disappearing… Sirius we need to get out of here… This has to be a trap…"

Sirius ran a shaky hand through his hair, nodding.  "D'you know where in the forest we are?"

"Not a clue." Remus whispered, his eyes still darting around to the foliage surrounding the grove.  Remus had been so sure that those bushes had not been there when he and Anna had stumbled across Lord Voldemort and Edea.... Something was definitely wrong.

TBC

Ok, so it's a cliffhanger… I apologise, but I have to work out if I'm killing about a quarter of my major cast list yet. :D