Cage | Chapter 7
A Harry Potter Fanfiction By Majokai Yukiko
Pairing: Sirius + Remus
Warning: Pre-slash
This is an amateur effort and does not intend to infringe the rights of J K Rowling, Scholastic Books and its associates.
A/N: Took me long enough. Sorry, guys, I was a little preoccupied with my other SBRL fics. But here it is anyway…^^ hope you enjoy it.
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Chapter 7: Attempting The WillowIt was a fine day with enough clouds and plenty of sunshine. But it was a day already shot straight to hell.
Lucius Malfoy stood quivering, trying to put up a brave façade for those rooting for him. His supporters were all standing behind him, silently providing him with their moral support, although a champion was what the blonde boy really needed at the moment.
Facing him was the dark haired boy he had grown up with. Sirius Black leaned most of his weight on one leg casually, whispering to James beside him, all the while keeping a mocking eye on his opponent. The rest of the Marauders cast a worried glance from their friends to the willow tree a few meters away from them.
"All right, guys, ready?" Bellatrix shuffled her feet impatiently at her cousin and her childhood friend. The fifth year swept her long hair away from her neck and held out her hands. Sirius and Lucius handed her their wands.
Sirius smirked and was about to step forward to attempt the willow when somebody grabbed him by the arm. It was Remus.
"Sirius, are you sure you want to do this?" Amber eyes met sapphire ones. The latter spoke of determination and strength. It was the determination to prove his worth and the strength to see it through. Reluctantly, Remus released his grip. "If you say so…"
The boy flexed his fingers and blew his long fringe out of his face. The insane tree waved its branches threateningly at the crowd who had gathered there, promising a very painful death to whoever that stepped too close to it.
"My father said the willow was only planted on the compound this year. Both my parents think Dumbledore had gone mad, leaving something so dangerous in the school." James whispered to his friends as they watched with abated breath at Sirius, who was shrugging out of his long and restricting robes. Below it, the boy was wearing a pair of black muggle jeans and plain white T-shirt.
"What if Sirius dies?" Peter whispered back timidly.
"He will not." Remus replied.
Everybody, including Sirius himself, turned to look at Remus. The dark haired boy offered a smile and then concentrated his attention back onto the tree.
There was a moment of silence. The tree did not move, neither did Sirius. The boy was simply staring at the tree, as if thinking that by will along he could stop the tree from attacking him.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"If you are still going to do it, Sirius, I suggest you hurry."
Sirius held out a hand for silence and slowly lowered it. The tree moved hesitantly at the boy's sudden action, trying to determine if he was a threat. Then, before anyone could blink, Sirius leapt into action.
Remus had never seen anybody move so fast without magic. Judging by the looks of the spectators, who had gathered round, neither had they. Sirius dashed haphazardly between the branches, avoiding the attacks the willow was dishing out, sometimes by a good distance, sometimes so close that the girls nearly screamed in fear. In good time, Sirius had already crossed his arms across his chest and smirked at Lucius Malfoy, while leaning back against the trunk of the huge tree. He had positioned himself right at where the branches could not reached. He was safe.
The Gryffindors yelped in delight and cheered. The Slytherins turned green in anger and envy. Lucius only swallowed the lump in his throat nervously. It was his turn.
Bellatrix stared daggers at her cousin and marched over to where Lucius was.
"Your turn," she nudged. Lucius shook his head, refusing to move. His legs were threatening to give in any moment. He could not surrender. The Malfoy pride would never allow it.
Trembling in fear, he took a couple of steps closer to the willow.
Wrong move.
The Whomping Willow, after being repeatedly teased by Sirius earlier, was more violent than usual, attacking Lucius with enough force to knock out three grown men. The Slytherin's mouth fell open, as if he was about to scream, and then drew in a sharp gasp when a pair of hands shoved him away onto the grass.
Sirius cried out loud in pain when the Willow struck him across the face. The rest of the Slytherins shrieked in fear and ran away in the direction of the school, leaving behind only the Marauders, frozen on the spot to see their friend lying on the ground, unconscious.
Lucius staggered onto his feet, and ran off with the rest without as much as a backward glance at the person who saved his life.
The tree seemed to know that it had done remarkable damage to the black-haired boy. It stopped, swaying slightly, as if contemplating whether or not to forgive the boy for his earlier trespassing and disrespect. Remus frowned, and took a step forward, mentally calculating his ability to cross the short distance and pull Sirius out of danger's way in time.
The Gryffindor chose that moment to regain consciousness, rubbing the back of his head lightly, and winced. The Willow struck again.
Dark blue eyes widened in fear, feeling the pain of the tree's attack before it even came. It never came.
Out of instinct, Remus threw himself onto Sirius, pulling both of them out of harm's way. The branch that came swiftly down whipped the brunette across the back instead, tearing the crisp white shirt into tatters.
A dull thud was heard as Peter fainted, collapsing onto the ground in fear. James stared from one friend to another, wondering whom he should help first.
"Remus!" He heard Sirius exclaim, as the dark haired boy shook the limp body frantically, frightened by Remus' blood, by the red liquid seeping through his own shirt, and by the mark he saw on Remus' bare back.
***
Sirius did not want to visit Remus in the Hospital Wing that evening. But since he could not come up with a reasonable excuse for not doing so, he had no choice but to allow his best friend James to drag him off.
For obvious reasons, he was disturbed by the prospect of seeing Remus. That scar he had seen on Remus' shoulder blade…he knew what it was. Being born in a family that dabbled frequently with the Dark Arts could do that to you. Sirius had no idea what scares him more: finding out that one of his closest friend was not exactly what the rest of the wizarding community would call human, or not knowing why he had kept this knowledge away from the rest of the Marauders.
Remus was a werewolf…common sense told him that he should say the truth out loud to Peter and James right now, instead of being led towards the Wing. He should be warning his friends about the potential danger lurking around them. This wolf shared the same dormitories as they did. Damn! Sometimes the four of them had even shared the same bed!
An instinctive shudder went through Sirius when he thought about that, recalling all the chances when Remus could have attacked them, whether they were awake or asleep. It was terrifying, that thought, though fascinating nonetheless. From what the books always said about werewolves, Sirius would have thought he would have been bitten or eaten by Remus long ago. What was holding the brunette back then?
As they neared the end of the corridor leading towards the Hospital Wing, James suddenly stopped in his steps with a loud groan.
"Now I know what I'd forgotten!"
Sirius stopped too, irritated to have his chain of thought broken. "What?"
"Food! You can't visit someone who's sick empty-handed!" Before Sirius could comment again, James hurried off in the opposite direction, muttering something about kind house elves that work in the kitchen and Invisibility Cloaks.
Sirius sighed, tapping his feet, wanting to wait till James was back before entering the room. There was no way he was speaking to Remus Lupin alone. Not after he found out who, or more accurately, what he was.
"Why are you standing out here?" The boy jumped, spinning around to meet the stern face of Madam Pomfrey, the school's nurse. Sirius looked down, and shuffled his feet.
"Er…I was waiting for James…we're here to see Remus, you see."
"Ah…" her face softened slightly. "He's awake now. I supposed you could go in." She opened the door even wider, stepping to one side to allow Sirius to enter. He shuffled his feet even more violently, took a deep breath as if bracing himself for something, and then smiled.
"Okay," he muttered and walked into the Hospital Wing.
"He's at the last bed, next to the window." Sirius nodded.
The setting sun painted the Hospital Wing with its radiant colors. The white sheets were tinted orange, while the walls were stained dark red. Deep into the other end of the huge room, right next to the window, was where Remus was. The boy had his back towards Sirius, his attentions drawn to something outside of the window. He tucked his legs close to himself as he sat on the bed, his chin resting against the top of his knees and looking out of the window. Sirius was taken aback.
With his keen sense of observation, Sirius noticed that Remus' shoulders were hunched, his head bowed slightly. Though he was easily distracted, once or twice, by the way the light from the sunset seemed to play against the golden tint in Remus' hair. Sirius wondered why he had not noticed the symptoms before.
Monthly disappearances, returning back from each absence looking as if he had been through hell, the lightening streaks in his hair, and slightly sharp nails that had raked across his own skin once or twice by accident over dinner…all of these pointed to Remus' identity. Sirius was puzzled over something else too. Surely Dumbledore would have known that Remus was a werewolf, so why had he allowed for such a potentially dangerous dark creature to study under the same roof as the other children?
But what had really confused Sirius was neither of that. Looking at his friend as he did now, Sirius suddenly realized he had not really cared if Remus was a werewolf or not. Remus was Remus, who cares about anything else?
Remus stiffened and then sat down straighter, as if noticing another's presence in the room. When he turned around to smile slightly in recognition as Sirius, the other boy had to suck in his breath in shock.
The glint of the unshed tears in Remus' eyes had undid him. He now knew why Remus, despite all the chances he had, had not harmed any of them.
He supposed the lion that lied down with the lambs could not be considered a lion anymore.
Right?
***
End of Chapter 7
Continue to Chapter 8