Fragility

The portkey deposited Dumbledore and Richard not in the Ministry Atrium as Richard had expected, but in a large room somewhere in what Richard supposed was the Auror Department of the DMLE. About sixty, maybe seventy people were crowding the room, all listening with rapt attention to what somebody at the far end of the room explained. Obviously, those were the Aurors' last preparations before they would set out to their destination.

Only a couple of seconds after the portkey had brought them into this room, Kingsley Shacklebolt came walking towards them, a haste and urgency in his stride which made the bad feeling in Richard's stomach only worse. Aurors were not meant to be hurried and in haste, they were supposed to be sure of themselves and of their upcoming success in the mission, weren't they?

"Ah, Dumbledore. Just in time, we're about to set off towards the Riddle House. And about in time because from what I gathered Minister Fudge is on his way here, demanding an explanation as to why nearly half of the Auror capacities are being sent out by me without previously informing him of it."

"I will take care of all of Cornelius' questions should he arrive before the departure, Kingsley. You only take care that your men get to the Riddle House as soon as possible, I don't think we have all that much time left."

"What about me?", Richard asked.

Dumbledore and Shacklebolt turned their eyes on him, Shacklebolt with an eyebrow raised in astonishment.

"You? Mr. Lupin, with all due respect, but this is an Auror mission. No offence meant, but I never take civilians on any missions, no matter their reasons. You'd only stand in the way, probably even endanger the mission."

Richard shook his head forcefully, not accepting this as an answer. There was absolutely no way he would stay behind and wait.

"Mr. Shacklebolt, I am aware of that. I'm also aware that we don't have time for a lengthy discussion about it. But I will not stay behind when it's my sons' and my grandson's lives that are at stake. I don't ask to be involved in your mission, I am definitely not eager to get into any fighting, but I want to be there for my family as soon as I can. And 'no' is not an answer I will accept."

Shacklebolt looked completely undecided and turned his eyes on Dumbledore as if in search for help. It was obvious that he was angry that Richard brought up the topic of him coming along right now, straight before their departure. The Hogwarts headmaster only shrugged.

"It's not my place to decide, Kingsley. It's your Aurors and your mission, you are in command here."

Before Shacklebolt answered, Richard interrupted him again. It was painfully obvious from the expression on his face what his answer would be, and Richard had no intention to stay behind.

"I will apparate there on my own if you don't take me with you."

"Are you trying to blackmail me, Lupin?"

Richard noticed that he had suddenly turned from 'Mr. Lupin' to 'Lupin', but he did not comment on it. This was not about starting a friendship with Shacklebolt, he didn't even want or need to gain the man's respect or anything, he only needed his agreement that he could get to where his sons were. So he forced himself to stay calm.

"No, I'm just telling you what I will do. I need to be with my family now, that's all I ask of you. Take me along so that I can see what has happened to my family."

Shacklebolt turned his eyes to the ceiling for a short moment, but then he finally nodded. In one point Richard had been right, they didn't have time for discussions.

"All right, but under my conditions. You'll take the portkey with Williams and his group over there, they are the rearguard. You will stay out of the building until it's officially declared safe, though. I don't want to see you in there before that, and if you as much as set a foot across the threshold before I personally allow you to, we'll get into trouble, understood?"

Richard nodded and immediately went over to the group of Aurors Shacklebolt had indicated and took hold of their portkey. Shacklebolt turned towards Dumbledore once more.

"He'll keep to that?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I'm sure he will. But now we should leave, before Cornelius delays us any further once he arrives."

Kingsley nodded and went over to another group of Aurors to take hold of a portkey himself. His deep voice sounded through the room.

"All right, you have your instructions. Set the portkeys for fifteen seconds, we're off. Good luck!"

The Aurors did as they were told and after a countdown that was sustained with bated breath by all parties involved a huge blur seemed to ripple through the air in the room and the Aurors were gone.

Dumbledore took out his wand to apparate to the Riddle House himself. He had been there before during the first war, that was an advantage. Group apparition to a place which none of the involved knew could end in the squad being strewn too far around the place they wanted to end in; it simply was not accurate enough if the people didn't know exactly where they wanted to apparate to. In normal situations this was not that much of an obstacle, mostly people didn't care if they ended up a few feet closer to the garden fence if they apparated somewhere unknown. But in case of a coordinated Law Enforcement action precision was everything, that was why the DMLE was making use of portkeys in those situations.

Just as Dumbledore was about to raise his wand, the door to the room was flung open and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge stormed into the room. His face was a deep beet red, eyes blazing angrily.

"Albus, I demand an explanation! Why do you send out Auror squads without my explicit permission? You have no say in the Ministry, especially no command over my Aurors."

Dumbledore turned towards him.
"Cornelius, unfortunately there was no time to inform you. And neither, I am afraid, is there time for lengthy explanations now. I need to hurry."

"Where to?"
"To the Riddle House."

If possible, Fudge's face turned an even darker shade of red.

"What?", he roared. "Why in Merlin's name do you come up with something like this now? Nobody has been in the Riddle House for ages, there's nothing there."

"I'm afraid tonight there is. I have reliable information that there is a Death Eater assembly there tonight, attempting to bring Voldemort back to life."

That left Fudge speechless for a moment, a rare occurrence in itself.

"But...but that is not possible! You-Know-Who is dead, has been dead for over five years. He can't be brought back! And there are no Death Eaters anymore who could even attempt something like that. That's ludicrous!"

"No, it is not", Dumbledore replied calmly. "We both know about the Azkaban breakout, we both know that there are Death Eaters on the loose. And if you had listened to anything I ever told you then you would know that Voldemort is not dead, and neither gone for good. But as I said, I don't have time for this. If they succeeded, I think it would be better if I was there. Do not try to undermine this, Cornelius. I'm sure we will send for help if we need reinforcements, but anything else would only disturb what the Auror squads are about to do."

"But...but..."

"In case it all turns out to be a mistake or misunderstanding I'm willing to bear the consequences, but now I don't have any more time to waste. Until later, Cornelius."

And with that, Dumbledore apparated away, leaving a completely befuddled Minister of Magic standing alone in the large chamber.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Janus and Remus watched helplessly how Malfoy grabbed Harry by his good arm, the knife in his other hand, and dragged him over towards the cauldron. Harry started to squirm in his grasp, screaming on top of his lungs. He screamed for help and for it all to stop and for Remus to come and take him home. Malfoy seemed a bit surprised that Harry was struggling back against him despite the tight grip with which he was holding the child's hair. Harry's screams echoed hollowly around the chamber, burning themselves into Remus' and Janus' mind with a frightening intensity. Remus struggled against his bonds in a futile effort to free himself as he heard Harry's screams, but to no avail. Though he was kneeling again, his ankles were still bound tightly and he could not move forward at all. He was frantically moving his wrists against the ropes that bound them in a helpless attempt to free himself from those bonds, but the only effect of it was that blood was staining his wrists and the ropes from where the skin had been torn open.

Janus knew that he needed to do something, that he needed to try whatever was in his power to save his nephew and to attempt and stop this resurrection. He sat up straighter, trying to focus on what he was about to do next. On what was the only thing left for him to attempt.

Janus knew that he was normally powerful enough to perform simple spells without the use of his wand, yet he did not know if that would be enough to change something here. The situation could not be worse for such an attempt, that much could be said. His hands were bound tightly in front of his body, he could not spread them out. And – worst of all – his chest was still aching badly whenever he tried to draw a deep breath, reminding him of his painful impact earlier after the portkey travel. He should be in a good physical condition for an attempt at wandless magic because it always had a physically exhausting effect, but at the moment he had no choice. Janus simply didn't have the chance to wait with this until he was completely sure that he was physically fine. He simply didn't have enough time.

Janus straightened up as much as his bonds would allow him, tried to focus all his energy and still his erratic heartbeat and harsh breathing. He only needed a small distraction, something to turn the Death Eater's attention away from Harry towards him. Maybe Lucas would get the clue and attempt something on his own then.

But just as he straightened up and raised his bound arms, their guard turned his head from where he had been watching Remus' struggle against his bonds, and the man seemed to realize immediately what Janus was attempting to do. In one smooth movement he brought his wand to point at Janus' chest and Janus could literally hear him draw breath to curse him.

As if from a great distance Janus heard Malfoy repeat his incarnation about the forcibly taken blood, he heard Harry scream loudly for Remus, but the sounds were strangely muted by the sound of his blood roaring in his ears.

The wand in the Death Eater's hand twitched slightly and despite all the years of training and experience Janus had had with that kind of situations Janus felt himself close his eyes and try to block out what was about to happen next. He immediately opened them again, however, as a whispered "Stupefy" sounded from the left. To his great astonishment he saw their guard sink down to the floor as if somebody had hit him over the head. With a puzzled frown he turned towards Lucas, but his partner was staring at him with an equally puzzled expression. And Lucas was sitting to his right, but the curse had come from Janus' left side. But there were only Death Eaters standing there, where was the sense in what had just happened?

One of the Death Eaters had stepped a bit out of the circle, unnoticed by the other ones whose attention was still wrapt up in Malfoy's attempt to draw Harry's blood. His wand still pointed at his prone colleague, but before Janus could start to try and make sense of that development another flick of the Death Eater's wand sent something sliding from the pocket of the fallen guard's robe towards where Janus was sitting.

Three pieces of slim, polished wood, all three of them different shades of brown.

While the Death Eater slipped back into the circle of the other robed and masked men, effectively melting into the mass without a trace, Janus lurched forward and grabbed his wand, forcing himself not to contemplate why on earth a Death Eater would help them to get armed again. He pointed his wand at the ropes that bound him.

"Finite Incantatem", he whispered and immediately the thin ropes vanished just as quickly as they had appeared earlier that evening. Quickly he unbound his ankles as well and grimaced painfully as the blood rushed back into his numb limbs. No time for that now, though, he needed to do something against what Malfoy was up to. And for that, he needed to use as much of the moment of surprise as he could. From the corner of his eyes he saw Lucas unbinding Remus and handing him his wand. Thusly assured that the two of them were able to defend themselves in the chaos that would undoubtedly ensue in a short moment, Janus immediately spun into a standing position – silently with years of practice – and pointed his wand straight at Malfoy who was just about to bring the knife down to cut Harry's skin open.

"Stupefy!"

Immediately, Malfoy went rigid and sank to the ground, taking Harry down with him. Nothing Janus could do about that now, he needed to get to the child's side as quickly as possible anyway. And he had not dared to use a more harmful spell on the Death Eater, the danger that he might have hit Harry with it had been too great. Hopefully, Harry had not been hurt any further by this fall.

Now Janus needed to act as fast as he could. The danger was not over yet, Janus would only be a bit more relaxed once he got the child as far away from that cauldron and that knife as possible.

The Death Eaters had all watched Malfoy fall down and a stunned moment of silence had followed during which they had tried to grasp what was happening here. Their triumph had only been moments away, they had already waited with bated breaths for their master to emerge from the cauldron, and suddenly things started to get wrong. For some long moments they stared at the cauldron in silent shock, too stunned to do something immediately. Quite a number of them didn't get a chance to think twice about it, because Janus, Lucas and Remus stunned, disarmed and disabled as quickly and fiercely as they could, not giving them a chance to react for as long as possible.

The number of fallen Death Eaters was already pretty high by the time the other ones got around to draw their wands and try to organize themselves to bring their three opponents down. But Janus, Remus and Lucas had already split up and moved to different positions in the room, drawing the Death Eaters out of the tight formation they were forming.

Especially Remus was acting on automatic, fighting back hard and harshly against everybody who stepped in the way. It had been years since he had last duelled, but he simply allowed his instincts to take over in the hope that they still worked. And they seemed to do. After all he had been in the Order during the fist war, he had a huge theoretical and practical knowledge on all kind of magic, especially the Dark Arts. There was hardly a curse the Death Eaters could try to use on him which would really surprise him, and he was able to fight back just as hard and vicious as they tried to attack him. And above all else, he was a werewolf whose pack instinct had kicked in. That might not apply to Lucas, but Merlin help those who dared to cross his own way or threaten Janus or especially Harry right now.

"The boy!", came Voldemort's voice from out of the cauldron. "Take the boy and draw his blood!"

Janus was close to Harry, but he was also busy fighting down two approaching Death Eaters, who had by now gotten far more accustomed to the new situation. From the other side, a Death Eater rushed by and picked up the knife. Harry still lay where Malfoy had dropped him earlier, curled up into a tight ball, sobbing and whimpering lowly. The Death Eater reached out to pick up Harry, but at that moment Remus saw him.

"Incendio!"

Immediately, the black robe caught fire and the Death Eater let the knife fall with a start and tried to suffocate the flames with his bare hands, seemingly forgetting that he was carrying a wand for the moment.

"Voatus rodate!"

The Death Eater was thrown back against the far of wall, turning and rotating in the air and knocking his head on the stone wall as he impacted. With a small flick of his wrist Remus extinguished the fire and bound the Death Eater up, then he turned his attention away from the man.

With two long strides Remus was by his godson's side and picked him up. Harry was pale and shaking, dirty, dishevelled and scared half to death, he had what appeared to be a broken arm and probably a lot of bumps and bruises, but all that didn't matter right now. Harry was alive, that was what counted at the moment.

Remus gathered him in his arms and retreated against the wall, trying to estimate his situation. Harry was shaking in his arms, still whimpering slightly, and he seemingly had not recognized Remus yet. Or if he had, he was too shocked and scared to do anything except from sobbing lowly into the folds of his robes. He needed to get Harry out of here, needed to get him to the fireplace...

Remus' heart sank as he realized just how hopeless their situation was. The fireplace was on the other side of the room, but Remus saw no chance to get there right now.

They were outnumbered, Janus and Lucas were fighting hopeless fights against a number of opponents at once, and the cauldron was still throning in the middle of all that chaos.

The surprising thought that he didn't see Sirius anywhere flashed through his mind. Strange that he was thinking about his former friend who only half an hour ago had tried to kill him in this situation, but somehow he would have expected that the Death Eaters would free their companion as soon as they saw him lying tied up against the wall. But then again Remus was more than just confused by everything that had happened with Sirius and Peter during the past hour. Remus forced himself to push those thoughts aside until later, now he needed to keep his wits together until he was out of here. Until Harry was safe.

Remus moved back along the wall with Harry in his arms, but he realized that it was hopeless. Four Death Eaters were starting to close in on them and Remus knew that he'd most probably not be able to fight them all down. And even if he could, there would be others to take their place. But Remus was also aware that if they got Harry into their hands, Voldemort would be as good as resurrected. And that was something Remus could not allow on top of it all. Not that he would le those bastards get his godson anyway, not as long as he was able to defend him. They'd have to kill him to lay hands on Harry again, he would make sure of that.

The irony of the situation was that Remus knew the fact that he was holding Harry in his arms was all that separated him from either a fast Killing Curse or a slow torture that would lead to death. In any other situation, the Death Eaters would have already stunned, hurt or killed him, he was aware of that. But Harry was still needed.
Before anything else could happen, Remus quickly pointed his wand at the cauldron.

"The boy", Voldemort still screamed from out of the cauldron, "bring me Potter's blood!"

"Aperto!"

The spell hit and the cauldron began to sway dangerously backwards. It didn't fall over completely as Remus had hoped it would, the cauldron seemed to be very heavy and his spell simply had not been strong enough. Immediately, the Death Eaters turned and hurried towards the cauldron to stop the fall.

"Aperto!", Remus repeated desperately, hoping that this time the spell was strong enough to have a lasting effect. It took endless moments, seemingly in slow motion, but then the cauldron dropped and in a splay of potion its contents spilled over the dirty stone floor. Remus didn't look at what exactly was spilling out along with the potion, he didn't want to see what of Peter's remains or of Voldemort's body was poured onto the floor. That night had already given him enough nightmare material, he didn't need to add that image to the list. The moment the cauldron dropped and its contents flowed out a loud screech sounded which seemed to reverberate from the walls of the room and echo on. Remus was breathing harshly and pulled Harry's body even closer against his chest.

That should be enough to stop them, at least for a while. Hopefully for ever.

Remus gathered Harry close, shielded him with his own body and tried to decide on what do to next.

Things were not looking good, Remus knew that. They were still outnumbered, no matter how hard they all fought. Harry was hurt and Voldemort was still only one step away from resurrection. Remus knew a lot about the Dark Arts, but he was not familiar with the rite the Death Eaters had attempted to bring Voldemort back. He simply didn't know enough to be sure that they were safe now.

Not good.

Harry was not unconscious, but he was obviously not really aware of what was going on around him. Maybe that was for the better, Remus didn't even want to think about what the child had already been through without anybody to soothe his fears and give him comfort. Remus secured his hold on the trembling child, then he quickly moved along the wall towards the fireplace. That was the only chance to get Harry out of here and get help for Janus and Lucas. Their only chance. And he needed to do it fast, before the Death Eaters would overcome their momentary distraction. Lucas and Janus seemingly managed to draw many Death Eaters away from Remus and Harry, but there was no guarantee that this would be enough.

From where he was standing against the wall, Remus could not see Lucas, he only saw curses flying back and forth somewhere in the far off corner where he supposed his brother's partner was battling a number of Death Eaters. Still there far too many Death Eaters standing up against them. They had disabled so many, but still they were outnumbered.

Janus was closed in by two Death Eaters now, with another one coming up from the side. Remus opened his mouth to shout a warning to his brother about that one and pointed his wand at him the same moment, intending to take him out before he could sneak upon his brother from behind.

Before Remus could do something, a flash of bright red light exploded in front of him and he felt another blow knock him straight into the chest. Remus' only thought at that moment was that hopefully the spell had not hit Harry, but judged from the amount of pain he himself was in he guessed that the spell had missed his godson.

He was knocked backwards forcefully and barely had the time to secure his hold on the still completely unresponsive child in his arms before the back of his head connected with the solid wall and he sank to the floor. Bright stars erupted behind his eyelids and Remus felt a wave of pain and nausea flood over him. Remus tried to open his eyes, tried to raise his wand towards the direction from which the spell had come, but found that he was completely unable to move for the moment, feeling as if somebody had wrapped him up in a cocoon and dumped him into a basin of water - everything that was happening around him was just out of his reach and ability to do something.

Remus wanted to kick himself that he had not heard the Death Eater sneak up on him, Harry could have gotten hurt. Carefully Remus checked that Harry had not been harmed by the curse or the impact, but nothing additional seemed to have happened to him.

Slowly, Remus tried to get to his feet again, but this proved more difficult than it sounded. As soon as he moved, small stabs of pain shot through his head, making him feel even more dizzy and sick. He breathed in deeply, tried to will down the bile that was rising in his throat. He had to get back into a standing position again, he needed to get Harry out of here as fast as possible. So far, pure luck had saved the child from getting hurt even worse than he already was, but that could not last forever. Next time he might not get off this lightly.

The pain in Remus' head still didn't recede, but he forced himself to open his eyes. Two Death Eaters were advancing on him now, both had their wands raised at Remus' chest. Again, Remus was sure that they had not cursed him already out of the fear that they might hit Harry with it. Surely they would not hurt Harry if there was still the slightest chance that he could be used later on in another attempt to bring Voldemort back.

"Hand over the boy", one of them said from behind his mask.

"Never", Remus spat out, still tasting blood in his mouth from the curse he had received earlier this evening. He gathered Harry even closer, his left hand pressing the child's head against his right shoulder, his right hand still holding his wand in a tight grip. But Remus knew that if he even made the smallest move to raise the wand, he'd be stunned immediately. At best, probably worse than a mere stunning curse, depending on how clever those two were. His breathing was harsh and erratic now, his heart thumping so loudly in his chest that he was sure it could be heard by the others as well.

"Hand over Potter. Now!" The Death Eaters were stepping even closer towards them, and Remus knew that it would only take another moment until they would either forcefully snatch Harry out of his arms or knock him out cold before they did. But still he didn't even contemplate for one short moment to actually do what the Death Eater demanded.

He didn't even answer to the demand this time.

Behind the masks he could not see the Death Eaters' faces, but something in their bearing changed after his repeated refusal to hand them over the child that would help them resurrect their master. If that was still possible after Remus had knocked the cauldron over, but he guessed they would try anything to succeed.

The Death Eater to his left made a sudden, aggressive step forward and Remus immediately turned slightly to shift Harry away from the man, but that only made the other Death Eater advance on him as well. But suddenly the Death Eater to Remus' left stumbled, swayed slightly and then dropped to the floor as if shot, and even as Remus turned his head and looked at what had happened something red flashed past him and hit the other Death Eater in the shoulder, effectively stunning him as well.

With a morbid fascination Remus watched how ropes appeared around their arms and ankles, binding them up in a way that they could never get out of it alone, but only as their wands were suddenly summoned away and Remus followed them with his eyes did he see Janus standing across the room, still quite a distance away from them, his back against the wall, his left hand pointed out his own wand and with the other hand he was catching the Death Eaters' wands.

Remus felt his heart sag with relief that his brother had freed himself from his own battles just in time to help Harry and him. Shaking ever so slightly, Remus tried to get to his feet. Not an easy task with a seven year old child in his arms and quite shaky legs. He made it as far as kneeling before his head began to spin and he felt bile rise up in his throat. He needed to get Harry out of this blasted surreal scenario, needed to get him somewhere safe, he simply could not collapse now! But as much as he tried to tell himself that he only needed to hold on for a little longer, his vision did not clear all that easily. From the corner of his eyes he saw movement where Janus had been standing, indicating that his brother was making his way across the remaining distance towards them.

Remus blinked a couple of times until his vision cleared again, then attempted to get up again.

Remus stopped in mid-movement at what he saw then.

Janus was indeed coming over towards them, but instead of making his way so that the wall was in his back and he was thusly guarded, he took the shorter way straight across the room. Even though he was still a couple of metres away Remus could clearly see the worry on his face, obviously he had also noticed that Remus was bleeding rather badly. What he had forgotten, though, was that there was still quite a number of Death Eaters in the room who only waited for the possibility to get a clear shot at one of the Unspeakables. And one of them had his wand raised into Janus' direction.

"Janus!"

Janus spun around, his wand immediately coming up and it only took a short moment until it came to rest on the Death Eater. A moment too late.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Remus heard the curse being shouted into Janus' direction, and with bated breath he watched the flash of green light erupt a couple of metres to his right. Janus shot back a spell, but maybe a moment too late.

"No!"
As the light faded, Remus saw Janus lying on the ground next to where he had stood a moment ago and it felt as if his heart stopped beating. But only for a short moment, because then Janus turned over and got to his feet again as quickly as possible, his wand pointing at the unmoving form of the Death Eater who had attacked him. Remus had not even noticed that the man had gone down as well.

Slowly, Remus got to his feet, still on very shaky legs. The near-miss of his brother with a Killing Curse had not exactly served to make him feel more comfortable. Harry was still clinging to Remus' neck, holding on with a dead-grip, and Remus could feel his physical strength draining. Fast.

Janus looked over to where Remus was standing, but his eyes were quickly drawn back to his other side. Seemingly, the moment when the attention of solely one Death Eater was focussed on them was over.

Breathing heavily, Janus moved in between Remus and Harry and the advancing Death Eaters. Remus gripped Harry securely in a one-armed hold and brought his own wand up. If Janus gave them a bit of a hand, they could maybe make it to the fireplace. In one of the few moments of silent understanding between them, Janus and Remus simultaneously began to shoot curses and spells, trying to dodge and reflect the spells that were shot back towards them.

Everything was looking quite good, actually. Remus continually moved towards the fireplace when suddenly the thought struck him that he would need floo-powder. He didn't have any with him, there was no need for him to carry some around on all occasions. Janus always had some in one of the many pockets of his robes, but as Remus turned around towards his brother his heart seemed to stop for the second time that evening.

Janus was looking over towards him, startled by him turning around and for just the fragment of a moment distracted from his attackers. Remus saw the Death Eaters who was standing slightly behind his brother raise his wand.

"Ja..."

He didn't even get to finish the second syllable, and neither did Janus have the time to react to his warning this time. Remus saw the Death Eater who had his wand pointed at Janus, he heard the curse being shouted out. Frantically he searched his mind for something he could do, but he knew that whatever he did now it would not come in time to help his brother.

Please don't let it be a Killing Curse...

A bright blue light flashed from the tip of the Death Eater's wand and shot towards Janus. Distantly Remus heard somebody call out Janus' name, then realized with a start that he himself had shouted it. It had not sounded like his own voice at all.

People often said that in moments like these time seemed to slow down. Remus didn't know if that was true, he could only say that it seemed to hesitate just enough to make sure he saw everything that happened next clearly. And what he saw would haunt his dreams for a long time to come.

Janus' eyes widened in astonishment and then narrowed in pain as the Cutting Spell hit him and entered deep into his side, just below the ribcage. Immediately, he turned slightly to the side and pressed a hand onto the wound. Between his fingers, Remus could already see bright red blood spill out, and as Janus lifted the hand to examine it more closely his eyes grew wide again as he saw the amount of blood that was clinging to it. Remus had never seen such a shocked expression on his brother's face before. Immediately, Janus pressed his hand back onto the wound again, trying to stem the flow of blood from the wound.

Remus was torn between his wish to storm over towards his brother and try to help him and his desire to bring Harry somewhere safe. But without floo-powder he would not get the child out of here anyway.

Remus started forward to reach his brother's side, but his head was still spinning, blood was still running down his face and as soon as he started to move he felt dizzy and sick. Harry was a dead-weight in his arms, but nothing in this world would have made Remus let go off his godson right now. He looked up at Janus again just in time to see a second blue flash hit his brother in nearly the same place as the first one had done. Remus could do nothing but watch as his brother's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor. Unconscious, most probably. Hopefully only unconscious.

Please don't let him be dead.

It was over now, that cold and sobering thought cleared Remus' mind. Over. Janus would not go down like that if it wasn't a serious injury. The word 'mortal' flashed through Remus' mind, but he pushed it aside.

Don't think about it, then it won't be true. Just don't think about it.

The Death Eaters were approaching him now, still hesitant because they knew that Harry was needed, hesitant to possibly hurt the child before it became necessary to hurt him in order to bring Voldemort back.

Remus bent forward and shielded Harry with his own body.

Over.

"I love you, pup", he whispered into Harry's ear. "I love you so much. I'm sorry."

Harry whimpered slightly and buried his face in the hollow of Remus' neck. Remus thought he had heard the child say something, but there was no time for him to listen more closely if the child repeated it. Knowing that he didn't have any chance to get out of here alive, Remus brought up his wand and started to fire curses at the advancing Death Eaters, hoping against hope that they would not dare to shoot back serious spells at him and Harry. A couple of heartbeats later Remus felt as if something exploded in the back of his head and he fell forward as everything went dark and unconsciousness claimed him.