I'm really, really sorry aboutthe lateness of this. :hides: I promise to post the next chapter in the next few days, as for you guys not to be left with such an awful cliff-hanger for ages. Thank you for your reviews, they make my day. :)

This, and the next one, are probably my favorite chapters in the whole thing. They were just so much fun to write!

Travel in the Dark

By: Nekare

One kind word can warm three winter months.
- Japanese Proverb

Remus returns to consciousness abruptly, as if pulled from the foggiest of dreams, with his mouth open in a gasp. The first thing he sees are his friends, Lily's worried face among them. She doesn't fit with the background, too colorful and lively for the dark environment, for her black uniform, for the company she's been dragged into. She moves slightly and her hair looks as if it's caught fire.

Eyes half-closed, he reaches to touch it, a beacon of light in the suddenly blurry world, and he melts to the dirty floor, boneless and devoid of energy; wishing for his body to disappear so he could slither in delicate curves in the shape of the cursed blood that runs through his veins. Sirius puts a hand under his head, lifting him up a bit, and the other four faces slip out of his vision as they move backwards to give him space.

The ceiling is made of ancient grey stone, moss growing in some parts in a somber imitation of color, water stains spreading across the cracks. Remus' world just can't seem to stop spinning, a reality made out of deliriously bended shapes and confusing faces he knows he recognizes but doesn't want to.

Sirius lips are moving, but no sound is reaching his ears, and as he gets lost in flashes of white teeth that seems to shiny in the oppressive darkness his mind just decides he's not up for the ride.

His head lolls back in Sirius' hands as he slips into unconsciousness once again.

---

"What'd you mean you told him to help him?" comes Lily's voice across an ocean of sluggishness, a soft murmur that echoes slightly with the low ceiling. Remus grimaces a bit, eyes still closed, and considers staying there and become one with the walls – at least that would stop the pain. He aches everywhere, as if he had been taken apart by some rather curious toddler and some pieces were still missing.

"Well, I thought that'd help a bit, you know, to have a long-term purpose," says Sirius somewhere on his right, and Remus figures they're talking about him. He lays still, and listens intently.

"Just how would him knowing the name of his father's murderer help at all?" snaps Lily, and there's a subtle rustle of cloth that would be James trying to appease the girl with a hug, it Remus knows him at all. He waits for the slap, but it never comes, so he supposes Lily mustn't be paying attention to his stalker in potency. "Agh, you're such boys. This is just stupid. One kind word can warm three winter months, you know?"

"What?" ask the three boys, and Remus joins them in his mind.

There's a deep sigh, and then she speaks again. "It's a Japanese saying. Oh, forget it." Another rustle and Remus opens his eyes on instinct, only to find Lily reaching down for him. "You're awake," she says, and the boys turn hastily to look at him.

"What happened?" asks Remus, mouth dry and eyes struggling to adapt to the lack of light. Sirius sits the closest to him, and twines his fingers with Remus' own lightly, a promise turned into touch and a silent apology.

His friends look at each other, wondering just what to say, and Lily rolls her eyes slightly before speaking for the others. "We used ennervate in you the first time you woke up, and it seemed to make things worse, so we let you recover by yourself."

"No, I mean, why are you here?" Remus moves his head slightly, inquisitively, and the pain that tears through his skull makes him stop.

"James put a tracking spell on you, just before you and Sirius started, uh, fighting." Lily coughs, and Remus can remember kissing Sirius in front of them, an image covered in heavy fog and deep heartache. So much for discretion, he thinks, and when he remembers where he is the fact that there may not be anything to be discreet for after death makes itself known. "We Apparated right after you. The tracking Charm created a destination, so we didn't go through the same as you. Remus, you know that's dangerous, Apparating without a place in mind, without a clue, even, of just who you wanted to appear next to. It could have killed you, Remus."

Everyone in the room swallows, but they all hide it with different levels of ability. "I know." says Remus slowly, adverting their gazes, and he tries to sit up. The three boys help him up immediately, knowing after years just how to treat an injured Moony.

"But that's not important now," says Peter as he holds Remus' left arm. "We need to focus on getting out of here."

"Where is 'here', by the way?" Remus says between a wince and a grimace. Now that he's sitting he can see they're in the middle of some kind of hallway, darkness spreading just as the last threads of light from James' wand disappear. The air is cold and somewhat stale, as if no living creature had walked along the stone-made passage in ages.

"I think it's some kind of dungeon, small castles and old manors usually have this kind of construction." They all look around as Lily speaks, taking in every detail, saving them in their memories. "We can't Apparate out, there's some kind of deflecting spell." she states, and Remus' face goes pale. He hadn't meant to drag all of them into this; revenge is something meant to only be tasted alone.

"We've got to find another way out."

---

Two hours tick in their clocks, and the darkness has veiled their eyes so that's the only thing they can see. Every mutter, every footstep, speeds along the passage in sound waves that hurt their ears, that feed their growing paranoia. Everyone's taking turns to help Remus, who can't still move that easily, a pang of pain in every muscle he moves.

The uneasiness growing in their stomachs makes them turn around anxiously, feeling watched, vulnerable under the muffled light of their wands under their robes, fabric glowing in one bright spot and giving just the amount of light necessary to walk. They had decided more than an hour ago that they needn't any attention on themselves.

They had found a human skeleton twenty minutes after they had left their initial point. The bones had looks pearly and inconsistent under the feeble wand light, and all of the tiny circles of magic-powered light had gone off at the same time without a single incantation being muttered. Lily had clung to James without noticing, a silent scream choked on her throat, and the five of them had huddled together against the opposite wall, rapid breathing and racing hearts.

There is no doubt in Remus' head now. Rosier is in the building, and probably, more Death Eaters; and his friends are all trapped here with sociopaths probably walking on marble floors over their heads, and it is all his fault. They keep on wandering through the never ending labyrinth of stone and locked doors, crooked stairs leading to black holes of nothingness, cold becoming more pronounced as the night advances.

Remus is especially surprised of Lily, who looks frightened but composed, shivering as lightly as they all are without any complaint, when she should be sitting on a warm armchair by the fire right now, not underground with no discernible way out. Peter steps over something, and the sound of bone breaking fills their ears in a deafening noise. "I- I think it was a rat's," croaks Peter, and the boys tense as Lily relaxes. He pats Peter a bit on the shoulder as he helps him, the other arm wrapped around Sirius' neck in a slightly more impious kind of way.

The air is becoming oppressive, hard to breathe as their lungs fill with too much fear for their guts to bear, the scent of moss permeating their noses. Fifteen minutes more, and then there's light at the end of a passage so narrow only two of them fit walking side by side. The orange burns at their eyes, after hours of their pupils being so dilated hardly any color on the iris was seen, but it looks like warmth in their desperate minds as they follow it blindly.

Sirius is left to drag Remus by himself, and they touch fairly more than necessary, a need of realness and a proof of life beyond this maze churning inside him. The five of them stop abruptly at the end of the tunnel, and watch, eyes-wide, half concealed by the stone, the scene unfurling in front of them.

There's a fire roaring in the center of a circular room with runes written on blood covering every inch of the floor, a dozen black-clad men surrounding it.

Lord Voldemort paces between them.