Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to the wonderful J. K. Rowling, not me.

Yay, an update…sucky chapter…but an update nonetheless!

Dumbledore's face crinkled into a smile when he saw the small green parrot come towards him during breakfast.

"Albus?" Professor McGonagall questioned when she saw the brightly colored bird, so different from the usual owls.

"Distant relations," Dumbledore replied as he took the letter and opened it, scanning it.

Dumbledore, you've got to help Remus! I don't know what's happened but something has—my bird brought back a letter with half a word and blood splattered on it!

-Snuffles

"Oh dear," Dumbledore sighed.

"What is it?"

"Lupin's in trouble."

McGonagall looked at the headmaster, worry in her eyes. "Albus, is there anything we can do?"

Dumbledore pinched his nose and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No. Nothing. The laws that the lovely Miss Umbridge passed…" He trailed off, not voicing his next thought: …Have allowed for a mass slaughter of the werewolf kind.

Hermione was watching the staff table closely after she'd seen the bright colored bird fly to Dumbledore. She saw him and McGonagall exchange a few words, and the Transfiguration professor's face was drawn with worry. Dumbledore as well looked very stressed.

"Look up there," she said to Harry and Ron. "What do you supposed has happened?"

Harry frowned and shook his head. "No idea."

Ron lowered his voice and whispered, "You don't suppose something's happened to—" He stopped, having been on the brink of saying "you-know-who" before realizing who that would make the other two think of. Fortunately, they understood the silence.

"No," Hermione murmured. "There would have been something all over the news. Besides, McGonagall doesn't know."

"Oh, yeah."

Dumbledore looked up and saw the three teens discussing among themselves while looking at him and frowned slightly as he seemed to look for something. Then, having made himself sure, he held up a copy of that morning's Daily Prophet.

Hermione looked around and saw Dean Thomas holding one of them. "May I borrow that, Dean?" she asked.

"Sure," the other boy replied and handed it over without taking his eyes off of the pretty Ravenclaw that he was watching.

"Thanks," Hermione said, hiding a snicker, then snapped the paper open. Her eyes widened. "Oh no."

Remus moaned as his eyes fluttered open, then immediately hissed in pain as he felt a searing sensation around his hands. He looked down and saw that they were chained together with silver manacles. He hid his face in his arm for a second, breathing deeply. Those were going to be one heck of a mess later.

Remus wiped his eyes with the back of his arm and sat up, looking around. He was in a cell of some kind with one window in the upper corner. He blinked and realized it was dusk.

A man strolled into view and looked down at the werewolf. "So you're awake," he said. "That's good."

"What day is it?" Remus demanded. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for and had no way of knowing if this was perhaps the full moon night.

The new man laughed. "Oh, don't worry, you and all the others were captured just this morning. The full moon isn't until the night after tomorrow night."

Remus relaxed. He didn't think the cell that he was in currently would have done much against a full-grown werewolf's prowess.

"Hey!" the man yelled suddenly, his hands cupped around his mouth, turned down the hall. "The Lupin one's gone and woken up!" He leered back at the werewolf. "You should've stayed asleep," he warned cryptically before walking away.

Remus went to the front of the cell and tried to peer out the bars to see where he went, but had no luck. With a sigh, he leaned back against the wall.

"Remus?"

Remus opened his eyes and looked over to where he'd heard the voice coming from in the cell opposite his. There was a dark form huddled in one of the corners. He tried to peer into it. "Yes?"

A shuddering sob came from the figure and it emerged from the darkness, revealing a young female in her early twenties. She had light brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, though a few strands frizzed away from her head, and dark brown eyes that were opened wide in fear. "Oh, I'm so glad it's you!" she said.

"Alicia!" Remus said, startled.

The girl, Alicia Taylor, was a Muggle who lived within the nearly all-wizarding district, only because of the fact that she was a werewolf as well and had found the presence of wizards much more beneficial to her plight than Muggles would have been. She was obviously terrified, and knew Remus as a friendly face who had helped her out a fair few times in the past.

"Remus, what's going on?" she asked, voice trembling. "I was out jogging and two men started throwing stuff at me and then one hit me with a spell and I couldn't move…" She trailed off, biting her lip.

Remus sighed. "Do you get the wizarding newspaper?"

Alicia shook her head.

"There are new…laws," Remus murmured. "They degrade us to nothing more than common game."

The girl frowned. "But they can't—kill us, can they?"

Remus didn't answer and his silence was more than enough of an affirmation.

"Oh god," Alicia whispered, retreating back into a corner and curling up.

Remus closed his eyes and rested his head back. Damn Umbridge! he thought, swearing softly through his teeth. He looked up through the window at he still-darkening sky, wondering if the moon would be out that night.

The werewolf was busy in his contemplations when he heard footsteps coming down towards him and looked out to see a teenage boy being bodily lifted down towards a cell. "Let me go!" he yelled, fighting and kicking. A well-aimed punch to his stomach stilled him for a moment long enough to throw him into a cell and lock the door, but he was up again and shaking the bars furiously. "You bastards!" he yelled at the wizards. "Let me go!"

"But he's just a boy!" Remus said, the words slipping from his mouth in shock.

The three who had brought the boy down stopped as one of them turned to Remus, eyeing him. Then he motioned to the other two and unlocked the door, entering. His companions kept their wands pointed at Remus through the bars.

The man who had entered the cell, someone that Remus recognized as Richard Jennings, an elementary school teacher.

Richard knelt down by Remus and regarded him for a second, then his fist flew out and caught the werewolf in the stomach.

Remus doubled over, gritting his teeth. He could feel his human mind start to sink into the predatory stance of the wolf, but with iron will wrenched docility to the surface. He took a deep breath, then looked back up.

Richard looked irritated, as if the point of the assault had been to provoke Remus into attacking back. "Fine," he growled, then punched the werewolf twice again, then stood up and started kicking his prone body with iron-toed boots.

Remus curled up and tried to shield himself, but when he instinctively put his hands to his face, the silver was pressed up against his cheek and it immediately started to burn. The former professor hissed through his teeth and lowered the chains and lay dormant until the beating ended. The wolf was screaming at him to lunge—the neck—make the kill now—

Richard sneered at him and left the cell, slamming it shut.

Remus crawled painstakingly over to one of the dark corners and collapsed, breathing heavily and crying, though trying not to. A whine settled in the back of his throat as the predator wished for its companions.

Sirius…

Sirius patted Buckbeak's side fondly. "Come on, boy," he murmured. "Wanted convict or no, I can't get in any worse trouble for helping Remus. Besides, things were getting monotonous." He hopped onto the Hippogriff's back and the creature spread his great wings, gave one large flap, and they were airborn.

Reviews:

Jess moony: Heh, sorry about the cliffy and the rather long update… sweatdrop School's been horrid, at least two hours of homework every night, I haven't written anything for like two and a half weeks! It's very sad!
Miss Anonymous hp: innocent look Don't hurt Remus too much? Please define this term "too much." I'm not quite sure I knew what you refer to… Heehee. Glad you like it!

Blanc S'est Leve: Hey, I did know what it said, yay me! Lol, I'm in French 4, I would hope that I would… Thanks for reviewing!

Irish Anor: Heehee, thanks. Sorry this update was so long. School…ugh. Blech. It has been very…full of homework, we'll leave it at that, lol.

DragonofDarkness18: grin Thanks! feels all special Thanks for reading and reviewing, glad you like!

Collie Snake: Hmm, that's a very interesting idea…Snape helping, that is…ooh, the plot ideas… But unfortunately, Dumbledore can't do anything because of the new laws… sniffle My poor Remus… big grin Love your review, it makes me feel special, heehee.

Destiny-TWoP: Thanks, glad you like it, thanks for reviewing!

AffectedMangoO: grin Yes, yes, Sirius to the rescue, everyone… Heehe, glad you like it, thanks for reviewing!

MissPadfoot92: sweatdrop Sorry! I couldn't help it! School's been horrid!

Corie: Hee, Remus is my favorite character too—obviously. Don't worry, the wizarding public isn't all like Umbridge. Some of them definitely aren't pleased. You talk as if you've experienced prejudice firsthand…? If so, I'm really sorry… sends ZAPS to all evil prejudiced people I have a friend who's half Native American and she's mistaken for Mexican and people give her the incorrect change and stuff all the time. grr

Alatariel aka Legolas' Cousin: Hee, yes, I remembered you from Isengard's Captives… Latin…heehee…The Latin teacher at my school is screwy. I take French, but I have a friend in Latin. Yeah, there's tons of stuff that Rowling got from Tolkien, she was a big fan of his books, I hear. There's one song that Tolkien wrote that mentions creatures called "Dumbledores," heehee! Thanks for reviewing!

DreaminofLorien: Mauling very good… Heehee, right after you… throws Umbridge in, chained up Hee, I love Sirius too.

Nessie6: That's odd, you'd think that more of the angsty Remus fangirls would want to write about Umbridge being mean to him. Poor Remus, lol!

Sabbrielle: I like the parrot too. I think most people do, lol. Sorry, I have a policy of no-betaing. And raar! I know that sentence sucks, lol! I tried, I really did!

Pure Sin: Lol, that's so odd sounding… "Cute little werewolf." snarl Not like the one in the movie, though. That stupid bloody thing didn't have fur or a tail and it would be able to tell the difference between a stupid teenage girl howling or its own kind, plus THEY DON'T STAND THERE AND WHIMPER!!!!!! takes deep, angry breaths Can you tell I didn't like the movie? Oh, I could go on forever… Anyway, I'm glad you like it, I love your name, and thanks for reviewing!

JCJules: thinks about making a valid reply and then decides not to because you'd understand seeing as I'm sick, right? halo Hee, you should know me, of course something bad is going to happen to dear Remus! Thanks for reviewing ;)

Lilyoda: Heehee! Do you think that blast-ended screwts like Umbridge? Let's find out! Hee, I love your review, thank you!

Abesapien: Sorry it took so long to update! Your review is simply lovely, thank you very much, and this reply would be better if I weren't sick and sore and the world weren't spinning slightly. sweatdrop But, one comment, yes, I did very much like writing that line, hee.

Black-horntail: Thanks for reading, glad you liked it, thanks for reviewing!

Sorry it took so long! points at high school! It's my school's fault…and my math teacher's…I swear it is! Expect a similar wait, and if you also read Isengard's Captives, expect an even longer one because it takes more for me to muster up courage to write a chapter (writer's block) and do the reviews on that one.

Ciao!