Chapter Six

Remus groaned in pain as he woke up. His legs and arms ached due to the abuse they'd received from the Death Eaters over the past few days, and his head felt like it was about to explode. He struggled to clear his head so he could focus on discovering the extent of his injuries. Stretching his arms in an attempt to lessen the pain, he cried out as something in his shoulder popped.

His cry caused Sirius, who'd been curled up in a corner of the stone cell they'd been thrown into after they were apparated away by the Death Eaters, to stir. Sirius also groaned as he began to move around. "God, I feel like I've been run over by one of those double-decker busses," He moaned.

"Try being hit with several Cruciatus Curses at once," Remus said as he managed to get to his feet.

"I think I might have preferred the busses," Sirius said as he looked around their cell. He and Remus had been unconscious for most of their time here, so they hadn't gotten a good look at their prison until then. There wasn't much to it. It was clearly an old dungeon of some sort, with flagged stone walls, ceiling, and floor. There was a heavy stone door that took up most of one of the walls. The only illumination came from a small barred window just below the ceiling on the wall opposite the door.

"How long have we been here?" Sirius asked while he tried to rub some of the feeling back into his arms.

"A few days at least, I'm not really sure how long. I think they kept us both unconscious most of the time, until now," Remus said. Before he could say anything else, they heard the sound of keys jangling outside the door. A moment later, the thick door was pushed open with a loud creek and in stepped two hooded Death Eaters. One of them resembled a small boulder, while the other was short and fairly skinny. Each of them was carrying a tray of food.

"Good," the boulder said in a gruff voice. "You're awake. Our Master will be pleased. He has been waiting to speak with the both of you, and he is not a patient man."

Sirius growled as he jumped to his feet, ignoring the jolt of pain that shot through his leg. "Well, you can tell you master that we want nothing to do with him," he snarled, kicking out at the nearest Death Eater.

The man he'd tried to kick pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius, preparing to curse him. His partner grabbed his arm in restraint saying, "Don't, Nott. The Master said not to touch them until he's seen them. He wants them unsullied."

Nott sighed in exasperation. "You're right. I don't want to displease the Master. But you," he said, turning to face Sirius and Remus. "You will soon learn your place. The Master will see to it that you are disciplined. We will return in an hour. I'd suggest you eat first." With that, the two men turned and stalked out of the cell, making sure to lock the door behind them.

As soon as they were gone, Sirius turned to Remus. They were each wearing the same worried expressions. "I wonder what Voldemort wants with us," Remus said, trying to keep his voice from trembling and giving away just how terrified he was. "I mean, he can't possibly want information from us. So why did he take us?"

At first, Sirius didn't say anything. He thought he knew why Voldemort might want them, but he wasn't sure. Sirius sat back down and pulled one of the trays to him, handing the other to Remus as the werewolf joined him against the back wall. He took a few bites of the sandwich he'd been given before saying, "I think Voldemort wants me because I'm a Black. Our family is known for producing powerful wizards. Not only that, but I've spoken out against my family for years, so no one who matters believes that I would join the Death Eaters. He probably thinks I'd make the perfect spy. As for you, I'm not sure, but I think Voldemort might know that you're a werewolf. I don't know how he could have found out, but he has been recruiting vampires and werewolves to his cause, so it's possible he might want one who's at Hogwarts and close to Dumbledore. I know you'd never join Voldemort," Sirius said, seeing Remus about to protest. "I'm just saying that could be what he wants from you. He might want you to bite some of the students and then recruit them for him. If you were the sort of person who'd do that, it would be the perfect plan. After all, Dumbledore would never suspect that you would do that on purpose, so he'd do his best to keep you at Hogwarts."

"Where I could continue to hurt others," Remus said quietly. He didn't like what Sirius was saying, and could tell by the look on Sirius' face that his friend didn't like thinking about it any more than he did. Nevertheless, Remus couldn't deny that what Sirius said made since. It was entirely possible that Voldemort wanted him because he'd somehow found out that Remus was a werewolf. "Sirius, if what you're saying is true, do you realize what it means?"

"Yeah," Sirius said with a despondent nod. The Ministry wasn't supposed to disclose the identities of underage wizards, even though they were all required to register and be branded. "If Voldemort knows about you, then it means that the Ministry of Magic has been corrupted. They've been infiltrated by spies."

Neither of them spoke much after that, choosing to finish their meals in silence. After he finished eating, Remus pushed his tray away and leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed in thought. Sirius, for lack of anything better to do, resumed his examination of their prison. When he glanced back at Remus he was startled to see tears in his friend's eyes. "Remus?" he asked, rushing to the other boy's side. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Remus took a deep breath as he opened his eyes and wiped his tears away. Rather than look Sirius in the eye, he stared off into space, a pained expression coming to his face. "I keep thinking about them," Remus said, his voice thick with sadness. Sirius knew without asking that Remus was referring to his family.

"Every time I close my eyes I see my sister, Annette, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail as she tries to get me to explore the forest in our village with her," Remus said, a blank look crossing his features as he remembered how active and happy his younger sister had been. "She could never sit still, you know? Always had to be climbing trees or flying on her toy broom, or exploring some new place."

"I remember," Sirius murmured, placing an arm around his friend's shoulders and holding him tightly. "She used to follow James around whenever we came over to visit. He said it drove him up the wall, but I'm pretty sure he really liked the attention."

"No doubt," Remus said. He smiled weakly before he continued. "She told me one time that she was going to marry James when she grew up. I told her she had terrible taste and that I'd have to kill James if he ever tried anything with her, and she just laughed and said, 'You'll see, Remy. I'm sure you'll get used to it.' I hated it when she called me that. Now, though…now, I can't stop thinking about how she'll never say it again. She'll never have her first date, never go to Hogwarts…she was so excited about Hogwarts, too. She used to chase after the train whenever it was time for me to leave. Annette…Annette so wanted to go to school. She used to swear up and down that she'd be on theQuidditch team in her first year. She said she'd smuggle her broom into school and play, regardless of what the rules against first years playing were. Her letter would have come this year, too."

"Now," Remus said, his voice choking up with tears. "Now she'll never do any of that. And my parents…they'll never see me graduate, get a job. They'll never be able to take Annette shopping for her first wand, never be able to brag to all their friends about how their daughter was the youngest person to play Quidditch at Hogwarts. And it's all because of the monster who's holding us captive. He took that from them – from me, and I – Voldemort destroyed my family, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it, and I hate it! I- it's just- it's not fair! Why did they have to die!" Remus sobbed, unable to continue.

"I know it isn't fair," Sirius said, rubbing circles on Remus back. "Life hasn't exactly been fair to either of us, has it? I mean, look at us. You're family's gone, and mine tried to kill me."

That made Remus look up at his friend in surprise. Sirius hadn't told them that. "What? What do you mean?"

"That's why I left home this summer," Sirius said with a small sigh.

"I thought you said you'd gotten into a fight with your parents, and that they threw some hexes at you so you left," Remus said in confusion. He hadn't forgotten how he'd felt a few minutes ago, but Sirius' statement about his family had done what Sirius had intended – it distracted Remus from thought about his own loss.

"That's what happened. I just didn't mention that the hexes they shot at me were Unforgivables," Sirius said, his voice dripping with disgust for his family. "Fortunately for me, the only one they didn't manage to hit me with was the Killing Curse. The others though…they tortured me for a while. Why do you think I was in such bad shape when I showed up at James' house?"

Remus couldn't think of anything to say to that, so instead he asked, "But what did you do to get them so angry? I know you said they were bad, but you never mentioned anything about torture before."

"That's because they never tortured me before then," Sirius said, looking down at his lap. "As for why they did it, well, let's just say they found out something about me that sort of sent them over the edge."

"What could your parents have found out that would have made them so angry?" Remus asked. He knew Sirius' family hadn't liked their oldest son for years, but couldn't think of anything that would set them off like that.

"One afternoon, Kreature came into my room to 'clean' while I was out," Sirius muttered in a disgruntled tone. "Before leaving, I'd been in the middle of writing a letter to someone. When he came in to clean, he saw it on my desk and read it before showing it to my parents. I should have known better than to leave it out, but it doesn't really matter now, anyway. My mum was waiting for me at the door when I got home. You know what happened after that."

"So what was in the letter?" Remus asked, curious.

Sirius sighed. He was beginning to regret saying anything about his parents. But he knew he needed to say what he'd been holding inside for so long before he lost his nerve. Sirius just hoped that Remus wouldn't hold what he was about to say against him.

"It was a love letter," Sirius said.

"I don't understand," Remus confessed. "Why would that make them so angry?"

"Because," Sirius forced out as he did his best to avoid Remus' gaze. "It was a letter to another boy. More specifically, it was for you."

A moment of shocked silence reigned between them, as Sirius waited for the blow he knew would be coming. When nothing happened, he looked up at his friend. Sirius was relieved to see that rather than angry, Remus simply looked as if he'd just received the shock of his life.

"You love me?" Remus asked slowly, trying to make sure he'd heard right.

"Yes. I have since third year. I'm sorry," Sirius said, looking down in shame.

Remus took a deep breath before taking Sirius' face in his hands and forcing his friend to look at him. Sirius flinched slightly at Remus' touch, but looked the other boy in the eyes nonetheless. "Sirius," Remus said firmly. "You have nothing to be sorry about. You see, I-"

But before Remus could say anything else, the door was pushed open and their cell was flooded with six or seven Death Eaters. It was time for them to meet Voldemort.

A/N: Well, I'm sorry it's been such a long wait.But I hope ya'll like this - the slash I promised is finally here! Anyway, in answer to a question someone asked, (sorry, but I don't remember who) I got the idea for this story from a fic I read at the Sirius/Remus slash archive. Can't remember the website. I think it was called The Chartalan Death Eater. I think it's good, but it's very graphic. Anyway, please review!