Author's Note: Yo, my peeps, this is my first fanfic ever! It's not very good I know, but please, read and review! I need to get waaaay better if I'm gonna compete with Bishoujo Osaka. It's a Moony fanfic (actually dedicated to my friend Moony) so please, constructive criticism!

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In Which An Innocent Man Is Accused

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Damn, thought Moony, racing down the floor of the corridor. Damn damn damn damn damn. He skidded to a stop in front of a statue of a gargoyle and started shouting at it, kicking it in frustration. "Lemon drop! Cockroach Cluster, Acid Pop, Chocolate Frog! Bertie Botts', Fizzing Whizbee, Peppermint Square!" he shouted.

"Remus Lupin!" said a stern voice from down the corridor. Minerva McGonagall was striding toward him, mouth stretched into a tight line. "Remus Lupin!" she said again. "You are no longer a teacher in this school, you have no right to go rampaging into the Headmaster's office, disrupting classes. O.W.L.S. are coming up, Remus! Dumbledore is very busy, what with Order business and whatnot…"

"This is Order business!" he bellowed. "He's gone and done it! We've got to get there before Ministry officials do—"

"Get where?" interrupted McGonagall, looking severely down at him through her spectacles.

"Hogsmeade! He's gone and done it, twenty-six dead, shops destroyed! You-Know-Who has gone and attacked Hogsmeade! Twenty-six dead, Minerva! Twenty six!"

"Voldemort?" she asked, staring at him in disdain with piercing eyes, ignoring his slight flinch. "I highly doubt that, Remus. You must have misheard a piece of gossip and been gullible enough to believe it—"

"No, no you don't understand!" he shouted, exasperated. "I was there! I Apparated back, just outside Hogwarts grounds, I was there! I fought him! Let me see Dumbledore!"

She looked at him for a moment, studied his stubborn features and shabby clothes, his slightly crooked nose and his deep blue eyes, and gave in. "All right," she agreed. "We'll see if your story is true." She turned to the gargoyle. "Ear wax," she said, and stood back as the gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, revealing a narrow set of winding stairs. "Follow me," she stated curtly, leading the way.

Moony followed her, trying to catch his breath. He looked at the pictures on the walls, surprised to see that they hadn't changed from when he was a boy, and sent to the Headmaster's office with Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail for various pranks and mischievousness. Wormtail. His slight smile quickly dropped from his face as he heard the name. Wormtail was the cause of all this, for the death of James and Sirius and Lily, the recent raid on Hogsmeade, even the death of Moony's own sister, Layla. His heart slumped at the thought of Layla, and he silently swore to himself that he would kill Wormtail, kill him like he should have done that night in the Shrieking Shack, kill him like he killed Layla…

Professor McGonagall's voice quickly cut through his thoughts. "Professor Dumbledore," she said shortly. "Professor Dumbledore, Remus says—"

"I know what Remus says, Minerva," cut in Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling through his half moon spectacles, his long, wrinkled fingers pressed against each other in a diamond. "I may not be all that I used to be, but my ears have not gone so far as not to hear you two arguing like schoolchildren just outside my doorway."

Professor McGonagall flushed, and for the first time, looked rather afraid. "Is it true, then, Dumbledore?" she asked. "Has he really attacked Hogsmeade?"

Dumbledore's amused expression quickly vanished, and he stared up at her gravely. "I'm afraid it is, Minerva. I'm afraid it is."

Minerva stiffened, then quickly said, "I'll alert the rest of the Order. Remus, go back to Grimmauld Place. Moody will meet you there shortly and tell you what to do." With that, she left.

Remus looked at Dumbledore expectantly. Dumbledore nodded, his wizened face showing no sign of expression. Sighing, Moony walked out of the room and descended down the steep stairs, wondering what would happen next.

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Remus paced back and forth in the living room of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He checked his watch. 11:34 PM. His patience was wearing thin. He had been beaten by merciless wind and rain and Alastor Moody on the way here, and he still had not learned anything. Because he was one of the younger Order members, he was not allowed to go on most of the important missions. Not that he usually minded. Who'd want to go out onto a life-threatening mission with so many years to go in your life and so little help you could give? But now? Now, when he had taken on the Dark Lord alone. Now, when he had finally been the hero and warned everyone about the dreadful terror in time. Now, when he had seen all those deaths…

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Remus walked among the empty streets of Hogsmeade. The carnage was horrible. Various witches and wizards lay on the paved stones, bloody. There were even some Hogwarts students—he shuddered—that he recognized. There was Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and… He stopped. Percy Weasley. His glasses lay askew, the lenses shattered, the shards of glass catching the dim gray light that was scattered through the town. A thin trickle of blood ran down to the gravel from just below his chin, where a gash ruptured the vein in his neck. Remus trembled. Percy Weasley, the ever-present, arrogant, superior Percy Weasley, dead…

A shock jolted through Remus' body. Evil pricked at his skin, grabbing hold of his heart in the blackness of fear. He fumbled through his robes for his wand, searching frantically. A harsh, high voice spoke two words from just behind him.

"Kill him."

Remus' werewolf instinct told him to duck, and he did so, dropping onto the rough ground just as a hot beam of red light whizzed past his shoulder. He felt the presence of death, and opened his eyes. He was staring into the blank, lifeless face of Dumbledore.

He screamed out in agony, covering his eyes, a bolt of heat rushing through his body. No, not Dumbledore, Dumbledore wouldn't do that, not Dumbledore…

Behind him, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named chuckled cruelly. "His fear is playing tricks on him, Wormtail. What say we… torture him?"

"Y-y-yes, m-master," said a small voice. "Excellent I-idea, sir. N-never had a better one."

"Stop your groveling, Wormtail," he said impatiently. He twirled his wand between his fingers, then pointed it at the figure in front of him. "Crucio," he hissed.

Remus shivered, the pain dulling his senses, not aware that he was screaming.

"Yes, yes," said the cold voice. He flicked his wand, and Remus was kneeling in front of him. "Now bow!" he commanded.

Remus dully shook his head, struggling to stay upright.

"I said bow!" Remus felt his spine bend of its own accord.

Voldemort laughed quietly. "Soon, even Dumbledore will be bowing to me. Although he is hiding, he will soon be bowing. Soon all of the Light Side will be bowing to me, or at least what's left."

"Yes, master, very much so!"

"Quiet, Wormtail. You, Remus John Lupin of the Order of the Phoenix—yes, yes, I have my share of spies," he said, chuckling at the surprised expression on Moony's face. "I have my share of spies. You shall see that soon." He lifted his wand, and Remus was thrown into the air, hovering there.

Remus was dimly aware of two things: He was slowly turning upside down, and Ministry sirens were approaching.

Voldemort spat disgustedly. "I'll be leaving now. You shall be left alive, Remus John Lupin. Pass on my message. Voldemort is back, and he is after the Order." With that, he disappeared, and Remus crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily. One thing echoed in his mind.

I must tell Dumbledore…

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Alastor Moody came bursting in through the back door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, his magical eye spinning every which way. "Remus!" he growled. Remus spun toward him Moony thrust a wet and sopping Daily Prophet at him, of which Remus could barely read the headline in the dim kitchen light.

Remus Lupin Accused of Hogsmeade Homicide.

Remus read it again, sure he had made a mistake. But it still said the same thing.

Remus Lupin Accused of Hogsmeade Homicide.

Shaking, he read the rest of the article.

Remus Lupin, age 32, has been accused of murdering 47 people at Hogsmeade at 4:37 this evening, 26 of them Hogwarts students. Ministry officials say they caught a glimpse of him Dissapparating next to the bloody body of Percy Weasley, looking shaken. Hogwarts seventh year student Draco Malfoy says 'I heard his running through the hall and cursing around 5 o'clock, and he fought with Professor McGonagall.' A price has been put over his head for 50,000 Galleons, dead or alive.

Moony watched him. "Fifty thousand Galleons, eh? Whaddaya say about that?" he asked gruffly.

"I did this? I went out and killed forty six people?" Remus slammed the newspaper down of the table, furious.

"Now, now, no need for all this violence, eh… Where are you goin'?"

Remus had stomped out of the kitchen. He threw the front door open and marched outside, knocking over the troll's leg umbrella stand. Mrs. Black started her wailing upstairs.

"Oy, Moony, come back here! Where are you going?" Moody ran to the door. "Rem—oh, damn."

As Remus looked up into the sky, he froze. Chills ran up and down along his spine. As his nails hardened, and his teeth lengthened, three dimly thought words floated carelessly into his mind.

The full moon…

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Author's Note: So yeah, that's my fanfic! Please review! Please? begs I'll do anything!