Disclaimer: The fairytale is not mine, the characters are not mine, and the magic mirror, alas, is, as far as I'm aware, an idea brought up only in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, making it also not mine.
Notes: I have a problem. Does anyone know if you're supposed to add an apostrophe and an 's', or just an apostrophe after 'Remus' or 'Sirius'? It's been bothering me a lot lately...
Chapter Two: The Eyes of a Wolf
The tarnished silver blade lying beneath Remus's bed had always been watched carefully. Sometimes he even brought it into the light and unwrapped it from the cloth he had found loosely tucked around it. Then, he would sit back and stare at it, almost admire it, amazed that something so simple could solve his problem quicker than any kiss from a pretty girl.
It had always been under his bed; that was where he found it. That was the way the house worked: you needed something, you found it right where it ought to be. It never occurred to him that he needed the knife until after it had been discovered, because the first time he stood back and admired it, he'd felt powerful and strangely pacified.
He looked at the limp form of Sirius Black the way he would often look at that old knife, and it was several minutes before he shivered and noticed the snow layering the ground. After murmuring an apology to the unconscious young man, Remus removed the thick black cloak from the other and draped it around his own shoulders before carrying Sirius inside. This took quite a bit of work, as there was a large gash in his side and Sirius was much larger than him. When the raven-haired boy was at last lying on a sofa with his cloak covering him in what Remus had designated the living room, the werewolf made it to the washroom and began cleaning the wound. He had seen and lived through worse. After attending to that, he checked himself over. There were several thin cuts on his palms and the soles of his feet and quite a few bruises forming. When he decided he would survive until the next month, he got dressed in clean robes.
A few minutes later, he was back in the once-empty room, checking the dark-haired boy for wounds. Remus had never been a medical expert, but he could tell there was some damage done to one of the boy's ankles. It wasn't long before he had decided to simply wait for the boy to wake up, so he pulled up a chair and sat down, watching the black hair fall into closed eyes. If ever he had been asked to imagine beauty, Remus thought, he would have never pictured half of what he saw now. Entranced, he reached out and swept a little piece of black hair to the side, fully revealing the closed eyelids fringed with long lashes. Just as he was vaguely wondering what colour those hidden eyes were, they snapped open, answering Remus's question: they were light grey, like the bottom of a cloud just hinting at rain.
A strangled cry escaped Sirius's lips, his eyes growing wide. After he had made a few more strange noises (all of which were perfectly incomprehensible), he managed to gather his ability to speak the English language.
"I am really sorry," he slowly said, though the panic in his voice was evident. "I won't tell anybody and you'll never see me again, just let me go."
Remus sighed. He hadn't thought of what to do when Sirius woke up, but it was pretty obvious.
"I can't," he stated simply, shrugging. "I can't trust that you won't tell anybody, because if you did, there wouldn't be any way for me to escape while they came up here with silver bullets. There is a boundary around the entire house that keeps any werewolf within a few paces of it."
Another stream of gibberish flooded from Sirius's mouth.
Again, Remus sighed, but it came out half growl. This quieted the other boy for a moment. "There is a kitchen downstairs. If you are hungry, there will be food in one of the cupboards. In that closet—" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at a wardrobe in one corner of the room. "Are clothes, but only if you need them. Keep that in mind. You only get what you need."
He waited for a nod or some sign of agreement, but none came.
"Um, 'scuse me?" Sirius asked, trying to keep his voice even. Raised eyebrows prompted him to continue. "Seeing as we're going to be living together for a while, would you mind telling me..." he cleared his throat now, as his voice was slowly raising in pitch. "Your name?"
The werewolf considered this. Should he reveal his name? Immediately, a little voice in his mind told him he shouldn't, but he had always been paranoid. Shoving the voice into a corner, he replied, "Remus." There was an awkward pause before he continued the conversation. "May I ask yours?"
"You can call me Sirius," said the dark-haired boy, not seeing the point in lying.
He sat up as he spoke, no longer frightened. Seeing that he was taller than the other boy had given him some reassurance that he would not be attack, or even pose a threat.
"I'd..." Remus hesitated, and then took a step backwards to the door. "Better go." With that, he turned around and walked back to his own bedroom.
When he had closed the door behind him, the blade was what held his attention. However, he ignored its call, and walked to the dresser that sat at one end of the room, facing the foot of his bed. Four items laid on it: three of them stones that he had had in his pocket when his mother left him here. They sat in a row, and beside them was a small, circular mirror. Remus reached out his index finger and ran it along the mirror's surface.
"Why is he here?" he asked the glass quietly, and an image appeared on the glass. This Sirius and a girl with bright red hair, kissing in the snow. Remus felt a strange emotion (Envy? Surprise? Distaste?), but the image changed before he could identify it. The next image showed Sirius picking a rose surrounding the house, pocketing it, and then coming face to face with the wolf. Turning away, Remus shuddered slightly, tapping the glass with his finger again. The image of the werewolf froze for a moment, and then faded.
Those tawny eyes were the last things he ever saw as a human. He would have to face them every time he looked in the mirror after that, as well. Before the bite, he had greyish green eyes— human eyes. His gold eyes were the only mark of lycanthropy that wasn't hidden under his clothes. If he had been a little older when he was bitten, he might have had a wand with which he could charm his eyes back to their original colour, but he was denied the chance to learn magic because of what he was, even when he came of age.
"This is all your fault!" she cried, picking up one of the stones from his collection. He would often pick them up from the ground if he saw one he liked, and then put it in the small box he kept by his bed.
She made to throw the rock, but collapsed into a chair before she could. The woman covered her once-beautiful face with her once-beautiful hands and sobbed loudly. "It's your fault. You're why he's gone..." Her voice was hushed now.
Remus stood in the corner, afraid. He stared at his mother, and bit his trembling lip.
She raised her face from her hands and glared at him, then crossed the room and shook him roughly by the shoulders. "What have you done to my son?" she growled. Another sob racked her body, but she maintained eye contact. "You had his eyes, Remus... You've traded in his eyes... for what? It makes no difference to me what time of the month it is; you are nothing but a wolf, no matter what form you take."
Tears stung his eyes. "I don't want it," he whispered, shaking. "I didn't want for it to happen."
"I didn't want a werewolf for a son," she snapped. "But look what happened to me." And she slapped him, hard across the cheek. Stunned, he just stood there until she left the room.
Remus shivered, then closed his eyes and fell into bed, not wanting to think anymore.
llllll
Weeks passed, and, before Remus knew it, the full moon was fast approaching once again. Sirius was not aware of this. He had hardly seen the young man he knew as 'Beast' since their first meeting. This did not mean, however, he was not afraid of him. Whenever he was in the other boy's presence, he hastily stopped thinking of escape plans, unsure if lycanthropy brought on telepathy.
Exactly eight days before the full moon, Sirius happened on Remus while he was eating. It still surprised Sirius that every time he opened the cupboards, there was food there. Only if he was hungry, of course. Whenever he was bored and saw eating as his only cure, there was no food there.
He saw the werewolf was sitting at a table, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of bread.
"Excuse me?" he said quietly. After about a week, he had realized this was not the other boy's real name, and it sounded so strange now.
"Yes?" Remus responded politely and quietly.
Sirius took a deep breath. "I was wondering if could I join you?" His question was answered by a confused nod, which Sirius pretended to ignore as he sat down.
"The full moon will be in a few days," Remus said absently, making Sirius's stomach twist and knot.
"Oh?" He attempted to keep his voice calm.
"I've been thinking about it." The piece of bread Remus had been eating was set down and he looked straight at the dark-haired boy. "One of us would have to be locked away from the other. And, as I don't exactly trust you to let me out after the moon has set, I suggest that it be you. This your wand?" The smaller of the two produced Sirius's wand from his pocket.
"Where'd you find that?" Sirius asked, slowly reaching out to take his wand back.
"In one of the rooms. The window was smashed, which is, I suppose, how I got outside last month. Anyway," Remus continued in a very business-like tone. "You could open the lock magically from inside. Just keep it locked while I'm transformed, and then come out when the moon's set. Want some?" In his hand was another piece of bread, which he offered to Sirius, who shook his head slowly.
"I'd better get to bed. I'm a little tired," he lied, and rather obviously, too. The werewolf's eyebrows raised, not believing him at all, but didn't say anything else.
Sirius had begun to think of a plan. While Remus was transformed, he would sneak out. He just had to make sure the werewolf was in another part of the house, and then bolt.
Foolproof, he thought, and smiled grimly.
Just before he left the room, he felt eyes on his back. Remus was staring at him, wearing an identical bleak smile.