Here you are people. Chapter Thirteen for you. Almost finished now – I estimate about another two chapters. Hope you enjoy them.

Myr Halcyon: Don't I know about work!!!! I can remember a few years ago during my A-Levels – I barely had time to breathe let alone write or anything like that!!! Uni isn't so bad because I'm doing what I want to do which makes the work easier. Anyway, I wish you luck with your finals. I know what you mean about the Boggart, why would it still appear, unless he was still afraid of it deep down but has become desensitised by the image of it. I mean if he's out at night he'll nearly always see the moon anyway, even if it isn't full. I've been thinking about that bike for a long time and I just had to add it in. You should read Something To Hold Onto because it's all about Sirius' bike and freedom and such – it's a missing scene from between book four and five. Oh, definitely no plans for little Kaitlyn's and Remus's I assure you! I hate those fics too – it's just not right. I'm sure they used some kind of magical protection of some sort, I never asked. Think I might just forget the catchphrase – too game show like isn't it? Anyway's on with the show…sorry, story.

Chapter Thirteen - Sacrifice

Two days later, Kaitlyn was working late in the shop. She'd just got another two boxes of supplies so she wanted to get them sorted before she went to bed. She wasn't going to be seeing Remus that night either. He'd been very busy for the past two nights and he'd told her he'd just got a lot of work to mark and that he had some other things to do at Dumbledore's wishes.

            She'd accepted that he'd had to put the work first and figured the chores Dumbledore had asked him to do were something to do with the Order, but it was his behaviour that had her worried. He'd seemed very distant and not completely himself. He 'd also kept telling her how much he loved her, which scared her to some extent but he'd just told her he just felt the urge to say it, gave him something to look forward to when he'd got all the work out of the way. She'd just smile and give him a kiss, telling him not to be so soppy.

            Hearing the front door open, she turned to see Remus standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the dark night behind him. He looked stern and distant, and also quite tired.

            "Hey love. I didn't think I was going to be seeing you tonight. Did you get all the work done?"

She asked as she placed a few more bottles onto the shelf behind the counter. He didn't say anything and she turned to look at him.

            "Remus?"

His lips thinned slightly and he slowly lifted his hands out to the side slightly before stepping in. Kaitlyn frowned at his actions, waiting for an explanation. It came in the form of a dark figure emerging from the shadows behind Remus and she watched as Snape's pale face appeared in the light, his wand tilted towards Remus' back. Confusing and fear settled in the pit of her stomach.

            "Professor Snape?"

She said looking at him, then turned to look at Remus.

            "What's going on?"

Remus just shook his head, cautiously.

            "Take your wand out and throw it to me."

Snape told her.

            "What?"

            "Just do as he says...Kaitlyn."

He said with difficulty. Kaitlyn couldn't get her head around what was happening in front of her.

            "Professor, what are you doing?"

            "Something I should have done a long time ago."

Kaitlyn frowned.

            "The Dark Lord wishes to see the both of you."    

            "Huh? But...Professor you work for us, why are you doing this?"

            "The Dark Lord wishes for my support to become public. If I don't then he will punish me. A fate worse than death."

            "But this isn't you! You're on our side! You'd rather die than join him! Why join a side that you despise when we can protect you?"

            "A side I despise? I've never said I despised them. In fact some of his ways make sense. Now take your wand out and throw it to me."

            "No."

            "K...Miss Morgan do as I say or you'll pay dearly."

He gestured to Remus. Kaitlyn looked at Remus.

            "Don't be difficult, just do as he says."

Remus told her quietly.

            "I'm not going with him, Remus. This isn't him and you know it."

            "Then I'm sorry."

Snape said, and before she could move he stunned her and she dropped to the floor.

            "I'm sorry."

Snape whispered again, and watched as Remus moved over and checked to see if she was okay. He looked up and nodded.

            "You think this is going to work?"

Remus asked.

            "It has to."

Severus joined Remus and they pick her up and Remus swings her up into his arms.

*****

Kaitlyn wakes to a throbbing in her temples. She keeps her eyes shut for a moment, trying to remember what day it is, and what she did before going to bed. Then she wonders why her bed is feeling worryingly like cold stone, before the nights events come rushing back to her and she opens her eyes. Remus is sitting on the floor against the wall, and he's watching her carefully.

            "Remus?"                                                                

She holds her head as she sits, feeling slightly nauseous.

            "Are you okay?"

He asks her, not moving.

            "I think so."

She slides herself along next to him and leans into him tiredly.

            "What happened?"

She asks, closing her eyes.

            "Professor Snape stunned you, then he port keyed us to the woods surrounding this place. He brought us straight down here, then went to see the D-he who...Voldemort."

            "How long have we been here?"

            "About two hours."

            "Hmm. My head hurts..."

She sat up, lifted his arm, then leaned back in so that his arm went around her and she was laying with her head against his chest. He looked down at her for a moment, then slowly pulled her closer to him.

            "I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything to stop him."

            "It's not your fault. I thought he was a good guy, I thought he was one of us."

He could tell she was drifting off again, and figured it was probably from where she hit her head when she fell, a slight concussion.

            "He is..."

He whispered quietly, but she didn't hear. She was asleep. He sighed quietly and kept still to let her sleep.

*****

She was jolted awake a few hours later by Remus nudging her harshly.

            "What?"

            "Someone's coming."

He whispered. She looked at him, and he could see fear suddenly in her eyes. He knew she'd been up against him before and that now he would probably kill them both.

            "Tell me everything's going to be okay."

She pleaded.

            "Everything's going to be fine. You'll be okay. We'll get you out of here."

            "We'll get out of here together."

She leaned in and kissed him deeply, pulled back a millimetre and whispered.

            "I love you."

She waited for him to tell her and after a long moments pause he replied.

            "I love you too. I've always loved you."

He replied sincerely.

            They heard the bolt on the door go and both stood up to see four death eaters enter the room. Two of them grabbed Kaitlyn and she started to struggle, and the other two took hold of Remus who went along quietly. They get led down dark, stony corridors with hardly any light except from some torches on the wall, and up some stairs before finally reaching a large door that Kaitlyn knew from her dreams.

            The doors open wide of their own accord and fear seized Kaitlyn's heart as she saw the red gleaming eyes staring at her from the throne at the other end of the long thin room. Her legs stopped working but the death eaters merely pulled her along until they reached a spot a few metres away. She didn't even notice the other death eaters standing against the walls like suits of armour. Snape was standing next to the throne at the bottom of the three steps leading up to it. He was staring down at her carefully. Wormtail was standing on the other side. Kaitlyn looked to Remus' blank face, then back to Snape and she felt anger rise.

            Kaitlyn's eyes were filled with an emotion that Snape had seen before in many faces but never in that of her young face. From the normally warm green eyes shone a hatred so intense that Snape found himself shuddering. Not from the look, but because she was staring at him.

            She turned to look at Voldemort with the same anger in her eyes, and saw him staring back at her, a small smile playing at his dry lips. Her lips thinned as she tried to keep hold of the anger but something else was rising slowly back up.

            *Did he frighten me? Yes. Yes, he did. Why? Perhaps...perhaps because of what I could see in his eyes. What could I see? Nothing child. Nothing at all. His eyes were empty as if his soul was dead.*

            There was no emotion in them. And she knew what that meant. He didn't feel anything for them. No guilt, no remorse...he could do anything to anyone and not care and that's what scared her the most.

Voldemort's gaze moved from her face and onto Remus'. He looked him up and down slowly, as if trying to weigh him up.

"Remus Lupin...I've been waiting a long time to finally have the last remaining Marauder in my hands."

His voice, harsh and penetrating, echoed around the room. Kaitlyn inwardly flinched but Remus didn't move an muscle.

            "James Potter, Sirius Black, and loyal Peter here..." He gestured to the scrawny man standing to his left. "Now which one would you like to follow in the footsteps of? How about Wormtail? Come, join me, I can show you thinks you could only imagine...I could give you anything you want as long as you do as I ask when I ask for it."

            "I'd never fully join you." There was a harshness, a determination Kaitlyn had never heard in his voice before and she looked to him, a unwavering look on his face. "Never. I'd become a death eater, sure. I'd do as you ask to an extent. But I'd become a double agent...I'd get close to you, hear all your plans, then go and let Professor Dumbledore know...and I know you'd just love that."

Kaitlyn's eyes widened at his defiance and she looked to Voldemort's blank face. He looked to be thinking quickly and she could see a glimmer of what appeared to be anger behind the redness in his eyes.

            "Very well. Then maybe you'd like to follow Black's path...die fighting for what you believe in. Maybe you could fight for Kaitlyn's life? I'm sure Bellatrix here would love the chance of another fight."

A small cackle came from one of the death-eaters in the line against the wall. Kaitlyn inhaled slightly and saw Remus' gaze look to her as did Snape's, which she didn't think had left her face since she'd arrived.

            "Or maybe you could go as James did. He didn't put up much of a fight I'm afraid. Not that he stood much of a chance, I did catch him by surprise..."

Remus didn't answer. Voldemort, didn't look impatient by this, he merely sat back and watched and waited.

            "Well...? If you're not following Peter then it'll have to be one of the others."

            "Tell me something...why have you brought us here? Just to taunt us before you kill us? What's the motive behind this?"

Remus asked. Kaitlyn wasn't sure why he was asking, she was sure they already knew the answer, then she wondered if he was just stalling, trying to come up with a way out.

            "You mean Kaitlyn here hasn't told you?"

He looked across to Kaitlyn.

            "Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn...I'd have thought you'd have told them everything you knew...unless you couldn't remember..."

Kaitlyn remained silent.

            "You see...after Black died I realised something. I realised that what Harry treasures the most are his friends, so then I had this thought. What if I could use an ancient device I had used before to get to what I wanted? You see once the necklace had possessed you completely I was going to get you to bring me some of Harry's closest friends. I knew that if I killed the people around him he loved, then it would make him angry and foolish enough to come after me. You may ask why I didn't just get you to bring Harry to me...but you see I wanted to draw it out...make him suffer by killing his friends, make him angry. You see...it would make killing him easier...if he's angry. Anger is something I can use against him, I can use it to get deep into his mind...

            "Unfortunately my plan failed. You were a lot stronger than your father...something I hadn't taking into account. I guess that must be the Hawk in you. Anyway, for a while you angered me, then I realised that I could get to Harry another way. I knew that you had become good friends with our boy wonder and I decided to get one of my loyalist supporters to finally come out into the open. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about."

He smiled and looked at Snape, standing completely still next to him, not looking at him.

            "So, now I have the two of you. And it won't be long before Harry knows about this. But of course they won't know it's Severus. Then I'll get him to go back and take another couple...maybe Tonks and Hermione. I'm sure I heard a whisper that they'll be going into Hogsmeade shopping tomorrow, and as it's the weekend no-one will notice you two missing until it's too late. They'll just assume you're taking it easy in your new shop..."

His smile widened into an evil grin, that sent shudders down Kaitlyn's spine. Voldemort turned his gaze to Remus.

            "So, have you made a choice? Would you like to go down fighting one of my loyal supporters? Or would you like to go down fighting me like your dear friend James?"

He threw a wand at Remus, who managed to catch it, but he merely stared at it before lowering it to his side.

            "I'd rather you just kill me now and be done with it."

He replied. Kaitlyn's eyes widened and she stared at him in astonishment. Even Voldemort looked slightly shocked.

            "What; no fighting for what you believe in? For the woman you love? You're just going to give in and let me kill you? With no pride? No honour at knowing that people will know you fought until the end? Nothing against your name? Knowing that people will know you as the person who gave up in the face of death? You'll have nothing."

            "On the contrary. I'll have everything in the world I desire."

Remus told him, standing tall. Kaitlyn frowned, not able to get her brain around what was happening. What was Remus doing? Why would he just give up? The fogginess she'd felt before when she'd woken was back as she tried to understand what he was trying to do. He couldn't really mean that, he wouldn't want to just die like that, it wasn't something he would do. Or maybe it was, maybe hearing his old friends name had brought something out in him that she'd never seen, or even knew existed in him. Maybe he'd always had this wish to join the only true friends he'd ever had in his youth? But would he give her up to get this wish, if this were true? Unless he knows that they'll both end up dead anyway so he figures that they'll both end up together in the end...?

            Her confusion was quickly replaced with complete horror as she saw Voldemort half shrug as if it mattered not to him, and carefully raise his wand towards Remus. The death eaters holding Remus stepped out of the way and went and stood along the wall with the other death eaters. She was paralysed with fear for a moment and she couldn't seem to get her muscles working. Even if she did, she knew that there was nothing she could do.

            "Oh God..."

She whispered, her lips hardly moving. She stared at Remus who was staring at Voldemort with a determined look on his face. He looked at her, seeing the grief-stricken look on her face and he pressed his lips together, and gave a small nod, almost a bow, as if in appreciation for everything she'd done for him. She shook her head slowly, mouthing 'no'.

            She watched in anguish as Remus turned and looked back at Voldemort. He held the gaze powerfully, standing up straighter, his chin up and teeth clenched. He wasn't going to show his fear.

            Voldemort's voice rang out hollowly like a gun shot. It sounded distant to Kaitlyn and echoed deeply. She watched as Remus jolted backwards as the curse struck him in the stomach and seemed to drill a hole right through him, and he fell as if in slow motion.

            Kaitlyn started to struggle against the death-eaters holding her but the world seemed to be moving slowly and every action was like in a dream sequence. Her movements, Voldemort's laughter, Remus falling to the floor...

Severus watched with everyone else, trying not to show any reactions, but he watched Kaitlyn carefully, out of the corner of his eye.

            As Remus hit the ground, she stopped struggling and watched him. For a while he seemed to struggle, his breathing haggard, a red stain appearing on his clothes.

            Suddenly she yelled out his name and the world speeded back up to normal speed again. She started struggling in earnest as she watched Remus shiver violently on the floor. Voldemort nodded to the death-eaters who let her go. She ran over to Remus and skidded to her knees at his side, taking his hand in her.

            "Remus? Remus?! Remus!"

Whatever curse Voldemort had thrown at him appeared to have bored a hole right through his stomach and blood was pooling out around him, soaking her knees. She tried to ignore it as he looked up at her in a very daunting way as he shook, as if begging her to believe that he could make it. It was a look she'd never seen on his face, like he needed to know someone had faith he'll be okay.

            "Easy – easy – you'll be alright."

She sounded scared, that slightly quiver in her voice. He shook his head, fighting back a cry of pain, his teeth gritted and his breathing ragged. He reached up his other hand and brushed it against her cheek.

            "...always loved you...don't let my death...be in vain..."

Snape swallowed silently from where he stood, watching the scene play out.

            Remus looked up, closed his eyes, and finally gave in to the pain and fear and letting in the peace and calm of death. Kaitlyn shook her head, as Remus' hand slid from hers.

            "No...No! Remus! Remus!"

She shook him, tears in her voice. Snape looked away and at Voldemort. He was staring at the floor and for a split second looked to be in some discomfort, but he shook his head and the look was gone. He then gestured to Snape.

            Kaitlyn heard someone come up behind her and felt Snape lift her to her feet. She called to Remus again and again, earnestly, knowing that she wouldn't get a reply.

            "Remus! Remus!! You promised me! You promised me you'd always be there!!!! Remus!!!!"

This realisation that he wasn't going to be there anymore, and she was never going to get a reply shocked her into silence and she couldn't think straight. Her expression was one of abject horror and unacceptance. She didn't struggle or anything but was just led away by Snape and another death-eater. It couldn't be happening to her again. It couldn't. Remus couldn't be gone.

            She couldn't breath. Her lungs started to restrict and she started panicking. She couldn't see – her eyes were full of tears and she hadn't realised she's been brought back to the cell and Snape had sent the other death eater away. All she could think of was what was going to happen now. What was going to happen to her now that Remus was gone from her life. If he wasn't there she didn't think she could go on living, there was no reason to...

            That brought another thought, why hadn't he killed her there and then? Did he have another plan for her? She started to wish he had killed her, then she wouldn't be here right now, feeling this overwhelming urge to just die...

            Snape laid her down on the bed and looked at her. Her expression was scarily black and he tried to call to her. She didn't respond. He got a little scared and called a bit more urgently, his voice low. Still there was no response to tell him she'd heard him.

            "Hang on Kaitlyn. It'll be over soon. And everything will be okay eventually."

Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!! Aren't I just so evil! What did you think? Was it shocking? Dramatic? Angsty? Would you like some more?