Chapter 33 -Fenrir Greyback
Remus packed up to leave in the afternoon on Christmas day, and Lizzie's heart fell a little.
"Want me to come with you?" She asked him. He looked up confused. Lizzie hadn't told him about the animagus and smiled into her cup of coffee.
"No... what kind of question is that?" He asked indignantly.
"Well I just thought the company might be nice," she said, still smirking.
"Not if you're dismembered, Lizzie," he said shortly.
"Well not if I go as... Bambi," she said.
"Bambi?" He asked. She smiled wide.
"The baby deer..." she explained.
"Yes, I know, but - you're saying you can go as - you're a -?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her intently and walking up to her wondering if she was pulling his leg or not.
"I am... a doe... as of Halloween Night... ironically enough," she said, laughing a little with her eyes.
"Why would you risk doing that?" He asked.
"To better evade capture, and so that you didn't have to be alone every full moon unless you wanted to be...now that Sirius is..." she explained.
"Lizzie..." he said hoarsely, eyes now glassy.
"Don't even pretend you're mad, I can tell you're quite possibly happier about it than I am, and I was pretty bloody thrilled," she said. Remus wrapped arms around her shoulders for a hug.
Lizzie followed Remus through the fireplace and to a small abode in a deserted area somewhere near the northern coast. "There aren't as many protections here... but it's far off the beaten track..." he explained. Lizzie shrugged that it would be fine.
"Well I'm a deer… so…" she said and chuckled.
It wouldn't be getting dark for another couple of hours and she decided to take the opportunity to explain to him some of what they'd uncovered. He was impressed at the findings but worried about the premise of them.
Dusk fell and he grew increasingly anxious. He seemed almost paranoid about something she wasn't picking up very well on. His brain was scattered beyond anything she could make out.
"Liz, I need you to go back to the Burrow, I'm sorry... I'm just worried... please go back, this was a mistake," he pled. He saw the hurt in her eyes but grew coarser with his words so she'd leave and not try to talk him out of it. Lizzie ultimately obliged with a loss for words and returned to the Burrow through the fireplace.
Remus paced anxiously in the house alone, his mind started to fade from him as his heart started the beat harder. He looked up at the fogged over window pane and back at a familiar face that made his heart jump. He barged outside to fire a series of latch ditch spells at Fenrir Greyback. He was sweating profusely in the panic, and wasn't sure how long he had been lurking, if he had seen Lizzie, or what would transpire once they both turned in a matter of minutes. Once his outpour of curses rained down and died, he didn't see him at all. The hopeful thought that his paranoia might have made him imagine his presence was interrupted by the sound and light of green flames igniting in the fireplace.
Remus hesitated to return to the Burrow knowing he could turn in moments. He couldn't subject the family to both of them if that's where he went, and yelled loud into the empty foreboding air in frustration for not being more careful, then his face into his shaking hands.
Lizzie was washing a kettle out in the sink and trying not to take the rejection personally. She knew he would be apprehensive, it didn't mean he would always be.
The others had turned in upstairs or chatted with Arthur in the shed. Tonks already returned to her parents. Lizzie heard the fireplace erupt from behind her and turned around a moment later to see Greyback staring at her hungrily from across the island in the dimly lit kitchen.
Lizzie wanted to scream but didn't want the others to charge down, so she backed out the side door. He began to transform violently as he followed her out into the yard.
"Charlie!" She screamed at the top of her lungs backing up toward the shed.
Bill, Charlie, and Arthur charged outside and double backed at the sight. "Bill get the others out through floo network to another safe house and then seal it, NOW!" Arthur yelled. Bill snuck back into the house and there were cracks from the fireplace as the family jumped through in turn.
Lizzie was trembling violently and backing away from the werewolf several yards from her. He approached slowly and menacingly, and she knew once she broke out into a run he would charge, but she couldn't apparate in the vicinity. She could run faster as a doe but was reluctant to expose her animagus form.
Charlie and Arthur watched the horror, frozen and deadlocked with indecision not knowing what to do that wouldn't aggravate the situation. Lizzie took off and disappeared into the wheat field figuring she could at least lure him away from the others. "LIZZIE!" Arthur shouted, and him and Charlie ran after her.
Lizzie ran as hard as she good, the hard thudding of Greyback's running gait fueled the adrenaline she needed. She heard multiple sets of feet around her but couldn't see who any of them belonged to until a hand wrapped around her mouth and pulled her close and down to the floor. It was Charlie, he quietly lowered both their bodies to the floor and was trying to conceal as much of her as possible to detour the smell.
They heard a sniffing and low growling between their violently beating hearts and coarse suppressed breath. Greyback was close, each of them could feel the other trembling in fear.
Lizzie pointed her wand in a direction away from both them and shot a series of charms to emit distracting noises. Greyback took the bait and they quietly shuffled back into the clearing knowing he was still lurking close by.
"How did he?" Charlie asked in horror.
"Fireplace... make sure everyone got out and take your dad, then seal off wherever you land," Lizzie whispered harshly.
"We aren't going to leave you here, you mad?" he growled quietly, pulling her behind the shed out of view.
"No, I'm going to buy you time, he can chase me down as a doe, when I make it back, I'll get back through to a safer location, I know one that wont be blocked, got it?" She insisted, pushing him toward the house after Arthur emerged from the grain field.
"Charlie, trust me, go!" She whispered harshly.
"Liz, stop!" But she transformed and took off in a direction away from them, Greyback eagerly took the second offering of bait to charge after her. He couldn't quite keep up with her sprint and once she saw the green light of the fireplace in the distance, she charged toward the side door and lunged through it. She returned to her body in the process, and barricaded it shut as best she could with the kitchen table He gave a bone-chilling roar and began knocking through the thinning protection. Lizzie collected her rucksack she didn't want in death eater hands. "Revlio" she yelled, but there was no indication anyone was left in the house. She then jumped through the fireplace as he busted though the door after her.
The moment she got back to small house Remus was staying, she sealed the fireplace and turned around to see a second werewolf staring at her intently.
Lizzie held up her hands in front of her in surrender. Remus didn't lunge or growl, but breathed heavily and whimpered. Lizzie didn't want to tempt his better nature and transformed into the Doe. He calmed at the sight and crouched down while she laid down near him and rested her head on her hooves.
"They're alright, everyone's safe," she thought, trying to project the reassurance to him. She could tell by the way the he looked at her, even with the cold werewolf eyes, that it was a relief. Something told her he came from this access point, but all that mattered in her mind was that nobody was hurt.
Now she understood why her dad and Sirius wanted to do this, he was remarkably calm when not alone, the animal affinity with someone he trusts is enough to keep him from driving himself mad during a full moon.
Remus woke in the morning and got dressed, but noticed Lizzie wasn't there. He looked around anxiously and caught sight of her skipping rocks by a shallow coastal pond.
"Don't worry, I put up protections. How did he find you here?" Lizzie asked when she heard him approaching.
"I was sent underground with colonies of them by Dumbledore to spy on their intentions about helping Voldemort, I think I was stalked from there," he admitted.
"I sensed something, but couldn't pin it so I asked you to leave. Then I saw him and did what I could before he passed through the hearth. We were minutes from turning though," he said looking disheveled and forlorn.
"He cornered me in the kitchen and then chased us through the field. Bill got everyone out. I gave Charlie and Arthur time by transforming and taking him on detoured chase. I thought... if he came from here that you might be hurt so I came back...plus I wasn't sure which safehouses were already sealed," Lizzie explained.
"I'm so sorry, I should have known," he said apologetically.
"Not your fault and no one was hurt. I shouldn't have come to begin with... I put up some protections here, but we should get to a safe house," Lizzie said.
Remus sat down on a log looking incredibly anxious and shaken. Lizzie sat down next to him and he pulled her in for a hug.
"How did he know to come after you?" Lizzie asked.
"Because... well because he turned me," Remus said reluctantly. Lizzie looked up at him horrified.
"I was four-years-old" Remus admitted grimly. "Greyback was fond of children, and my father was not kind toward werewolves... so he came in the night and broke into our house... the rest is history," he explained.
"Remus - I'm," Lizzie was at a complete loss for words, but he gave a look that there was nothing to be said.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, he shook his head and looked extremely grim.
"I think you should marry her," Lizzie said. He laughed lightly at the unexpected comment.
"I have to agree with Ron, not sure how I feel about the legilimency," he chuckled.
"You deserve some happiness...I think you should marry her..." Lizzie said with a weak smile and kissed the top of his head reassuringly as she got up to leave.
"Lizzie?" He asked. Lizzie turned around and wrapped her denim jacket tight around her body as a gust a cold wind struck their faces.
"She'll say yes," Lizzie said, already knowing his question. He smiled up at her with worry in his eyes.
They returned to Ted and Andromeda's and Tonks lunged herself at both of them with a surge of relief. Aurors were staking out the Burrow for Greyback, but it appeared he left. When they all received word at their locations to pass back through, the fireplace at the Burrow was sealed entirely and the family worked on fixing the damage a rampaging werewolf caused the night prior. Molly drowned Lizzie in kisses of gratitude for luring him out of the house, but Lizzie had finally crumbled at the realization that nobody would ever be safe while she existed. She snuck out to Arthur's shed and tried to preoccupy her mind with his collection of muggle artifacts. It always surprised her what he considered valuable.
"You alright?" She heard Charlie ask from the door, but said nothing as he walked in.
"It's not your fault, Lizzie," he said, sensing the guilt in her eyes.
"All of this is my fault. I exist and it only puts everyone in danger," she said hoarsely.
"So many more people are alive today because of you," he said reassuringly, moving closer to her.
"The people I loved most are dead, and I can't fathom losing anyone else... even though I undoubtedly will. He's taken everything..." she whispered.
"Not everything," Charlie said quietly and reached for her hand to squeeze. Lizzie nodded unconvincingly and after staring long and hard at him, she left silently.
Back inside the house, Lizzie climbed the steep steps to Ginny's room and stared at her from the doorway while she read something on her bed.
"Are you alright?" Lizzie asked. Ginny looked up and nodded. Lizzie climbed onto the bed and sat next to her, leaning her head on her shoulder.
"Ginny I need to tell you something," Lizzie said. Ginny put down the book and looked at her curiously.
"That diary you had didn't choose you by accident... He chose me for the same reasons to fulfill the prophecy. We reminded him of someone he killed when he was a boy. Probably the first person he ever murdered, I think she was the closest thing he had to a friend..." Lizzie explained.
"When I was the same age, I killed a girl the same way. She was my only friend," Lizzie admitted with a hoarse voice, wiping her face.
"You're saying he possessed you?" Ginny asked with a streak of horror in her eyes at the memory of what had happened to her.
"I'm saying that he still does. I think he has since the night my family died. If not for my mum I don't know if I would have been able to resist it at all… but then again I'd be dead so," Lizzie said, her eyes were pooling and her hands trembled.
"Don't blame yourself for the things he made you do... he's pervasive and evil beyond measure. Your heart doesn't beat for him, you don't belong to him," she said reassuringly.
"I don't want to hurt anyone, least so all of you. I think maybe I should go it alone from here," Lizzie whispered into her shoulder. Ginny stared into Lizzie's face.
"If I were you, I wouldn't separate yourself from the people you live for. It will only give him more leverage," Ginny said.
"That's pointless if you all die," Lizzie said, and swallowed back a sob.
"Lizzie, love is never pointless. We're your family. Brave hearted Gryffindors, right? You'd die for us, we'd die for you. Love is what you have that he doesn't, don't you dare distance yourself from it," Ginny insisted.
Ginny pulled her close and they both stared up absently at the Hollyhead Harpies poster on her wall across from the bed. The future now felt impossibly more bleak.