Don't own anything recognisable from JK Rowling's Harry Potter books
Chapter 16
Sacrifice
They followed blindly. They followed Sirius with no idea where they were going, or what would happen when they got there. Several times Sirius turned his head to check on their progress, and each time was concerned by the whiteness of Lunar's face, her anxiety that they get to Remus in time spurring him on to hunt faster. Repeatedly the aroma of dusty books combined with a mixture of musky wolf scent and Remus' favourite brand of cologne (the same smell Sirius remembered from school) disappeared, and he was forced to retrace his steps, or search more carefully.
Sirius recalled the times that Remus had escaped from the Whomping Willow whilst in wolf form, and he James and Peter had traced his steps, making sure that no one was hurt. However this time there was no back up, no one to aid his sense of smell.
Lunar was flanked by Albus and Severus, who were there to support her. She neither cared nor paid attention to them, her worry and anger at Remus forcing her exhausted body to continue on the search. She glanced up at the waning moon and glared, why was it not full? She winced recalling Remus' state the last time he tried to fight Avery, the bruises and scars, still not healed, that covered his body. "Hurry." She whispered in fear. "We must reach him in time."
…………
He never thought this would be it, the place where his past actions would catch up with him. Avery looked around the deserted alley, the faint glow of lights from inside the muggle bar reflecting on the dewy stone floors. A barrage of broken bottles and empty barrels filed one corner blocking off one entrance to the alley, and the shadow of a man blocking the other. The stone wall and the high fence seemed to draw closer to Avery as he considered his options. The skip next to the fence could be used to jump over, and the shards of broken mirror left by the discarded stolen purse could be used to distract the….
"Accio mirror." The growl came from nowhere and the shards headed towards the cloaked man. "Reparo." The mirror came together in form and the cloaked man caught it and placed it in his pocket.
Avery's face shone brightly with nervous sweat as the cloaked man edged closer to him, every confident step a nail in his grave. Acting with all the measure of a death eater he boldly asked. "Who might you be? And what is it that you require from me?"
Remus let his cloak fly backward into the grimy floor of the alleyway behind the Rat and Toad (a notorious establishment, well known for its corrupt morals and debauched customers), and reached for his wand.
Avery smirked as he saw the face of his would-be attacker. "Back for more?" He queried menacingly. "Wasn't the last beating I gave you enough?"
Quick as lightning he reached inside his robes producing his ebony wand and cried maliciously: "Crucio!"
Unable to protect himself from the sudden onslaught Remus dropped to the floor as wave upon wave of pain hit his not yet healed body.
Pointing up to the sky Avery added. "And there's no full moon tonight to help you, freak." He grinned spitefully as his taunts hit their mark, causing Remus more anger then he had ever experienced.
Remus grit his teeth together and, still under the curse, shakily pushed himself to his unsteady feet. Racking pain shuddered through his body, but his determination and anger proved stronger as he managed to raise his trembling arm and wand to shoulder height and managed to blurt out a curse, knocking Avery from his feet and onto the floor of the alley.
The force of the fall caused Avery to end the Crucio curse, ashen-faced with fear he whispered. "No. It's not possible."
Remus grimaced as the final stab of pain wore away to a dull ache, and then turned his black-rimmed sunken eyes to his opponent. "No death eater buddies to save you this time." Anger flashed on his face. "Or is it just young, drunk helpless women that you cowards enjoy attacking?"
Looking around the grimy pitch of the dead end alley, Avery's slate grey eyes moved quickly from one place to another, desperately searching for a way to escape the obviously possessed wizard.
"Let's see how you fare in a fair duel, shall we?" Remus asked menacingly.
…………
Sirius stopped short as he heard Remus' unmistakable voice. Not willing to put his sister and pregnant wife into the middle of trouble he placed his nose to the ground, sniffing intently as if searching for something, all the time eavesdropping on the conversation. He heard the final challenge from Remus and unwilling to let his worried followers about the duel soon to take place he drifted in the opposite direction of the fight.
The sudden blast of light from the dingy alley ahead shocked the group. Lunar cast a look of scorn and reproach at her brother as she hurried forward, hell-bent on saving Remus. Either that or killing him herself for being so stupid.
She arrived in the alley to find Avery on his knees, face contorted into a grimace of pain as Remus looked on. "Wha…?" She hesitated in fear as Remus swung around to look at her, the look of utter satisfaction at Avery's position on his face turning to one of apprehension of being caught by Lunar.
"Remus… No." She sighed and turned away from the death eater's pain into the arms of her brother.
Taking advantage of the opportunity and the lack of attention he was getting Avery muttered a counter-curse with difficulty and reached for his wand, which had fallen from his grasp when the pain had hit him.
"Lunar." Remus reached out for her in despair at the look on her face, but she turned further from him. As if it were lead, he dropped his arm down by his side and tried to defend himself, like a man in front of a biased jury. "I… I had to do it. Not just for you, but … for us."
"Us?" The tears falling from Lunar's swollen eyes hit Remus more painfully then any spell, or any physical torment. "You would destroy everything good about yourself by killing him, for the sake of us? There could never be an us, not after you sank to his level."
Remus' shoulders sank in disgust at himself. "I had to prove to you, how much you mean to me."
Making sure all attention was focused on the unhappy couple, Avery managed to slowly and painfully grasp the wand, hissing as his bruised knuckles wrapped themselves around the small structure, and he gradually drew it back towards his chest.
Raising her chin up, Lunar looked straight into Remus' eyes. "I am not worth it."
"No." Remus agreed. "You are worth more than this. You deserve more than I can give."
Avery turned his beady eyes to Lunar; she was the one that caused this in the first place. "Avada…" He began and pointed his wand at Lunar. She blanched as realisation struck. "NO!" The yell came from several places at once but only Remus was fast enough to run in front of Lunar and attempt to protect her from the now finished curse that was making it's way towards her…
………
"She should wake up at any moment." Were the first words Lunar heard in her half-dreamlike state. It came from an unknown source somewhere in a light-filled room. She attempted to open her eyes but the light burnt them with every attempt. Groaning softly she tried to shield the light from her face with her arms, but found herself unable to move them. "Not again…" She murmured in distress.
"Lunar?" Sirius rushed past the young doctor and held her hand. "Are you okay?"
"The light." She mumbled. Seconds later realisation hit as someone shut the blinds softly. "You can hear me? I'm not under the curse again?"
A young man with brown eyes and black hair, she could only assume was the doctor, approached the bed and shone a bright light into her eyes. Disconcerted he asked. "Curse?"
"The cage curse." Pat told the doctor.
"No Lune, you aren't under the cage curse." Sirius calmly told her. "The force of hitting the alley floor caused a concussion."
"My arms?" She asked still in the half-dozy condition not unable to fully understand her situation.
"Ah…" The doctor muttered as if her confusion has suddenly clarified. "You broke your arm in the fall, nothing major, and it has now been healed, but we had to restrain you so you wouldn't move during the healing process." He murmured the counter-curse and a great weight lifted from Lunar's dead arms and legs. As if needing reassurance she quickly moved all her muscles in turn, and relaxed against the pillow when everything checked out fine.
"A few quick questions before I leave you alone…" The doctor said with a small smile. "What is your name?"
"Lunar Black" She said slowly, not quite understanding why he asked such a simple question.
"And this man is?" He asked motioning to her brother.
"Sirius Black my brother. And that is Pat his wife." She rashly added, impatient to finish the inquisition.
"One final question." He said, with the annoyingly calm neutral tone verging on the patronising. "What is the last thing you remember?"
Sirius squeezed her hand tightly as her mind flashed through the last few minutes before becoming unconscious; her pale face became green-tinged as the enormity of what had happened occurred to her. "Remus!" She exclaimed. "What happened to Remus?" She searched her faulty memory for clues. "Avery was there…" She motioned to a spot of air in front of her. "He performed the killing curse, aimed at me. Remus…" She stopped and swallowed as bile rushed to her throat. "Remus..." Her unwilling eyes turned to Sirius, wanting to see the comfort in them. "Remus was in front of me, falling backwards. Between me and the curse." Tears ran down her face in disbelief. "What happened to Remus?"
"You gave us a bit of a scare." The familiar drawl came from somewhere else in the room. Lunar struggled with her battered body willing it to sit up and scan the room around her.
Half-sat up in a bed beside her Remus was attached to various monitors, which floated around him like a shield. A clear magic shield was around the bed.
"He would not leave your side." The disgruntled doctor said, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "He should be in a special ward for neutropenic1 patients. This barrier was erected when it was obvious that he wouldn't leave you."
Remus grimaced at the doctor not at all apologetically, and explained to Lunar. "It stops any bugs getting to me."
Lunar's brain swam in circles, elated that Remus survived. "But how… Can the killing curse be survived?"
Remus smiled slowly (and in pain). "I was prepared to sacrifice myself for you. However it didn't quite work out that way."
She frowned at Remus. "I don't want you to ever think that way again. For one reason I am not worth sacrificing for, another reason is I couldn't live without you."
"You are worth more that you will ever know." Remus said, his face and eyes conveying his love. "And as soon as the doctor says I can leave, you and I are going somewhere no-one can find us. Providing your brother agrees that is."
Sirius smiled. "Of course, I think you've had enough interruptions for this lifetime. And I also think you've kept my sister in suspense for long enough. Tell her how you survived."
Remus looked suitably chastised. "I had a mirror in my coat pocket." He told Lunar truthfully.
Albus entered the room flanked by Severus and Katrina. "We came as soon as we got the message. Nice to see you awake Lunar."
"A mirror?" Lunar asked sceptically. "That's all?"
Albus chuckled. "So you've only just told her?" He smiled at Lunar. "Research into mirrors has been carried out for some time. Even Harry used one to deflect the power of Voldemort in his first year. It seems that as long as some sort of charm or spell is used on them then it reflects any spells aimed at it. In Harry's case the mirror in question was the Mirror of Erised. For Remus…"
"I used a Reparo spell on it. Avery was looking at it as if he was going to use the shards against me. I had completely forgotten it was in my pocket; but, thank Merlin, it was." Remus continued the story.
"The spell was reflected? Then Avery…." She continued.
"He won't bother you again." Remus reassured her. "Something I don't intend to do."
"I think I can live with that." Lunar smiled contentedly, safe in the love surrounding her.
1 Neutropenic – A medical term meaning they are more at risk from infections than any one else. Just in case you didn't know. (I know… it took me a long time to swallow the dictionary.)
