Wendy grasped Remus' left hand in her left. She spoke the incantation, first in the ancient language of the Druids, and then in English. "With this spell, your loyalty is pledged, never to be broken. You shall obey all orders given by your rightful master." She paused to regain her composure. The tears were streaming unbidden down her cheeks.
Remus watched her with a sad, resigned expression. He knew how much this was hurting her, but there was no other solution that would allow them both to live.
Her voice was cracking as she continued, "You shall serve your master until released by death. In blood this oath is given." She stabbed his hand with the piece of the tray. She watched the blood pool on his palm, unable to look into his eyes anymore. "In blood this oath is taken." She stabbed her own hand. She could feel the tingling in the air as the first weaves of the binding were woven. "The binding is sealed in blood. Your will is given to me." She reached for his hand. They were about to touch when she heard something in the hallway.
As the door cracked open, she lunged at it. "Run! To the left, there is a door. Run!" she shouted as she fought with their captor. She was too preoccupied with her fight to notice if Remus had gotten away.
Thankfully, she had caught their captor unaware with her finely tuned reflexes, and was able to subdue him. She found his wand a short distance away from the door; it had been knocked free during her initial attack. With a quick spell, she had him bound, gagged and locked in the storeroom. Remus had gotten free. Now, if only he had made it out of the manor.
She needed to recover their wands, and, if possible, her cloak. Casting a quick Seeking Spell, she took the backstairs up to the main level. The family should be at dinner, and hopefully, this would give her the advantage she needed. She knew she would have to move quickly before Timor noticed his servant had gone missing.
Her spell led her to the library. She checked the hallway for signs of anyone. It was deserted. "Accio wands," she said quietly. As she had suspected, he had not locked them, and they flew to her hand. A quick look around the room showed her Invisibility Cloak draped on the desk chair. She left the other wand on his desk, grabbed the cloak, opened the window and dropped to the ground.
Hoping that Remus had run into the forest, she took off at a sprint across the lawn, not caring if she was seen, only trying to make it to the end of the anti-Apparition wards. When she was halfway across the lawn, she could hear the alarm being raised at the manor. Hopefully, she would be in the trees before anyone saw her.
As she ran into the trees, she could hear the distinctive howl of a werewolf, and it was much too close for comfort. She had kept her wand out just in case she would have to use it, and it looked like that was going to happen. Her one comforting thought was that whomever her brother sent out to capture her was in for a very nasty surprise. She knew of few wizards that could deal with a werewolf.
She could hear Remus getting closer and stopped, holding her wand at the ready. She was nearly to the end of the wards. As the wolf lunged at her, she shouted, "Impedimenta!" She knew it would not stop him for long, but she only needed a few seconds. Sprinting away from the manor once more, she was soon at the end of the wards and Disapparated.
Cappa hurried up to Wendy. "Mistress, can I be getting anything for you?"
"Dinner, Cappa," Wendy replied tiredly.
"Yes, Mistress. Will Master be joining you?"
"No, it will just be me." Wendy headed upstairs to shower and change. She knew she had time before Cappa was done preparing dinner. Tomorrow morning she would return to the woods to find Remus.
After she finished eating, she said, "Wake me before dawn. Do not let me sleep in, no matter what. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mistress." Cappa was used to receiving strange orders and she always carried them out.
Wendy was still not entirely awake when she Apparated near her ancestral home. She had no doubt that her brother would send out a search party now that it was day, though he must realize it would be fruitless since their wands were gone. Then again, Timor had never been very bright.
Casting a Seeking Spell, she began her search. Using short range Apparition, she was able to find him rather quickly. He was curled up in a small hollow, covered with tree branches. She knew that while his form was human, his mind was still mostly wolf. It would be another day before he was normal.
Standing above the hollow, she called, "Remus." He did not wake and she didn't want to make much more noise. Cautiously, she reached out to touch him. "Remus," she said again as she gently nudged him and quickly pulled back.
He spun around and growled at the intruder that had surprised him.
She jumped back. "Remus, it's me. It's Wendy. I've come to take you home."
He snarled at her and crouched down, as if preparing to attack.
"It's Wendy. Please, remember me. Remember that I love you. I won't hurt you." She had no idea how much of this he understood, but she hoped her soothing tone of voice would help placate the animal within. "Let's go home. I have food for you, a warm bed. Come, darling, let's go home." She thought he seemed less belligerent and found herself wondering if she could still be infected when he was in this state. She probably should have thought of that earlier. "Give me your hand and we'll go home."
He was about to give her his hand, when he heard something. He started growling again.
She realized she was losing him and grabbed his hand, placed it on the locket, and activated the Portkey before he could react.
Once they arrived in Chelsea, Remus began turning in a circle and growling. He wasn't handling the abrupt change in location well.
"Remus, we're home. Home, remember home? It's safe here. No one will hurt you. Come with me." She led him towards the basement. Hopefully, Cappa had finished the preparations. Wendy had left instructions that one of the storerooms was to be cleaned out and blankets, water and food provided.
Once she had Remus settled in the basement, she locked and warded the door to ensure he did not escape. Now that they were both safe, she had to consider what her brother would do. If he believed her story, hopefully nothing. It would be embarrassing for him to admit that she had escaped. Of course, if he realized that her companion was a werewolf that may be a different story. There was nothing to be done either way.
Checking the clock, she realized she was already late for work. As much as she hated leaving Remus alone, she had to go to work. "Cappa!" she called out. Once the elf was standing before her, she said, "I am leaving for work. Do not under any circumstances open that door or go in that room until tomorrow morning. I will return this evening to feed Master Lupin. If I don't, you are still not to go in there. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mistress," Cappa replied nervously. This was a very strange order. The elf wanted to take care of Remus, but she would do as her Mistress ordered.
Wendy spent most of the morning answering questions about her absence the day before. It was highly unusual for her to miss work without telling anyone. Thankfully, the ordeal of the previous day had left her looking quite exhausted, and no one questioned her statement that she had been sick.
Shortly after lunch, she received a memo from Lucius. He wanted to see her that afternoon. Seeing Lucius was really the last thing she wanted to do, but he might serve as an advocate on her side against her brother. Of course, she would have to answer questions about Remus, which would prove interesting. She spent most of the rest of the afternoon developing a slightly twisted version of the truth that should answer all questions and hopefully not generate any new ones. Of course, this would only be successful if her brother had not listened in on their conversations.
When she arrived at his suite, she found him lounging in a chair, reading a book and sipping brandy. He put his book down when she entered.
"Lucius, how good to see you, though I'm afraid I can't stay long. I'm still not fully recovered from my illness."
He leered at her. "Come now, my dear. We both know that you weren't ill yesterday. I know that you were a guest at your brother's house."
She decided to help herself to his brandy. "I wouldn't exactly say guest. If I was, his hospitality leaves much to be desired," she replied sarcastically.
"That is a very true statement. Now, I do wonder what you were doing there?" He was now standing behind her.
"I only wanted to see Andorra, since I don't know when he might be sending her off to Durmstrang. I told him that, but he seemed not to believe me." For once, she was actually telling the truth.
"Can you blame him? After all, you are an Auror. Though your…companion wasn't and that seems to lend support to your assertion. Who was that man you were with?" There was a slightly menacing edge in his voice.
She knew this would be the most difficult part of their conversation. "John? He's a friend that I recruited to be a lookout for me. Obviously, I should have chosen better since he was caught."
Lucius swirled and drained his glass, setting it on the bar. He closed the distance between the two of them. "An interesting choice of friend. He's not an Auror. In fact, he doesn't work at the Ministry at all. I believe he said he works in a Muggle bookstore? I know you have fallen out of polite society, but I had no idea you had fallen that far. You can do better. I can help," he replied. He pulled her hair back and nibbled at her neck.
Now was the time for her lies. She only hoped that she could maintain control of her faculties. "John is nothing more than a friend. The bookstore belongs to a coworker's sister, and I shop there frequently. He helps me select books."
He spun her around to face him. "Are you sure that's it?"
"Of course, my life is quite boring. Besides, I don't have time for a relationship. I find I barely have time for you." She hoped her lies were convincing. The fact that he hadn't mentioned a werewolf led her to believe that secret was safe.
"That's good, because I've already told you, I won't share." He pulled her tight for a kiss and started undressing her.
"Lucius, please, I'm quite exhausted after yesterday's ordeal," she protested.
"Oh, no, my dear, I think not. I can speak to your brother on your behalf. I can get him to leave you alone." He ripped into her clothes. "Besides, our work has kept us apart too much."
She knew she had no choice. He could do a lot to make her life miserable. He had influence at the Ministry and over the other Death Eaters. She was caught between a rock and hard place. "Of course, you're correct." She started returning his attention.
"That's much better," he said quietly.
It was nearly midnight when Lucius finally let her leave. She was now beyond exhausted. He had been absolutely insatiable. When she had asked him if he was taking some sort of potion, he had been very evasive. This led her to believe her initial hypothesis was correct.
Rather than knocking on the door, she rang the bell. This late, it was likely Mrs. Black's screaming would be necessary to wake Sirius.
"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled over his mother's screaming.
Wendy came in and helped him close the curtains before following him to the kitchen.
"Where's Remus? He didn't drink his potion last night," he demanded as he turned to face her. In the light of the kitchen he got his first good look at her. "You look like hell."
She replied sarcastically, "Thanks. Do you have anything to drink around here?"
Sirius got the bottle of whisky and two glasses.
She drank down the first shot he poured and then poured herself a much more generous second helping. "I did something stupid the other day. I talked Remus into accompanying me…" She realized she couldn't tell him the whole truth.
"What happened to him? Is he all right? If you got him killed…" He left the threat unspoken.
"No. He's fine, he's locked in my basement where he can't hurt anyone." She decided to tell a half-truth. "I got him to agree to go with me to spy on my brother. It seems he's being more supportive of the Death Eaters this time around and I heard he might be harboring one or more of the escapees. I thought that since I grew up there, we could easily sneak up to the house. I was only partly right. While I was peeking in one of the windows, Remus was stunned. I tried to counterattack, but I was not in an advantageous position and found myself likewise stunned.
"We were imprisoned in a storeroom and managed to escape mere minutes before the moon rose. I had no choice but to leave him there. I went back for him this morning after moonset. I have no idea what happened while I was gone. As you know, he is not very lucid in between changes."
"You know that if he bit you, you would be infected," Sirius said soberly.
"I had wondered about that. Thankfully, he did not bite me. Now, I'm exhausted and I'm going home. I wasn't able to learn anything worth reporting."
"That's it? You get the two of you captured, near a full moon, no less…" he started.
She interrupted, "Don't you think I know that? I was locked in a room with him as the moon was approaching. All we had eaten in the last twenty-four hours was a small loaf of bread. Don't you think I realize how close to death I came?" Or as good as death, she added silently. After quickly downing the rest of her whisky, she nearly fled from the room.
Sirius watched her go. He thought he had heard something in her voice he couldn't remember hearing before, fear. Could she have finally learned she wasn't infallible?
When Wendy returned home, Cappa met her in the foyer. "Mistress, there be an awful noise coming from the room where you put Master Lupin. I is worried, but didn't open the door," said the elf nervously.
"It's all right. It was to be expected." She walked towards the library, leaving Cappa to follow her. "Wake me once the moon sets."
"Yes, Mistress." Cappa bowed and left the room.
Wendy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. How close had they come to disaster? All because of her foolish pride. And now, she owed a debt to Lucius. Thinking back, she realized that Lucius had probably arranged the whole thing. She had been so concerned about Andorra that she had not though about anything else. Lucius had dangled two things in front of her in the hope that one of them would cause her to risk her safety.
As she reached for the cognac bottle, she noticed her hand was shaking. She clenched her hand into a fist, willing it to stop. She grabbed the decanter and a glass and took a seat at her desk.
Cappa tentatively entered the library. The moon had just set. She had tried to get her Mistress to bed last night, but Wendy had been quite belligerent about not being moved. Cappa gently tugged on Wendy's sleeve. "Mistress? Mistress? The moon has set. You asked me to wake you."
"Wha?" Wendy responded. She was still quite drunk, having polished off a good portion of the decanter before passing out.
Cappa had jumped back from the desk. "Mistress, you was asking me to wake you. Cappa has brought you tea to make you feel better. Please, drink it, Mistress."
Wendy reached for the teacup on the desk and drank it. "Ugh, what is this?"
"Cappa has used a potion to help Mistress feel better. She apologizes for the taste."
Wendy forced herself to drink the tea, knowing it would help her feel better. "Why did you wake me?" she asked as her mind started to clear.
"You asked me to wake you when the moon had set. Cappa has done as she was asked," replied Cappa nervously.
"Yes, yes. Make some breakfast. A large breakfast and bring it to my room," she ordered. "Bring a pitcher of water and a glass to the basement."
Cappa was gone with a pop.
Wendy was starting to feel better and made her way to the basement. She pressed her ear against the door and didn't hear anything from the other side. As she was removing the wards, Cappa arrived with the water. Wendy poured herself a glass and drank it down before finally opening the door.
Cautiously, she peered though the crack. Remus was curled up on the blankets. She could tell he was battered and bruised, but didn't seem to have any serious injuries, though it was difficult to be sure. Setting the pitcher by the door, she sat next to him and gently woke him. "Remus, I need you to wake up," she said gently.
He panicked when he saw that he was in a storeroom and that she looked horrible. "Oh, no. Wendy?"
She shook her head. "No, we're at my house, I brought you here yesterday morning."
"Did I?" He couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence. If he had bit her…
She reached out and brushed his hair, smiling to reassure him. "No. We were able to escape very soon before the moon rose."
He pulled himself to her and hugged her as tightly as he could. "Thank goodness." He suddenly remembered about the spell and flexed his hand. "And the spell?"
"Thankfully, whoever came by did so right before I finished the spell. You should still be yourself." She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
"I know that was hard for you. Thank you."
"I never should have gotten us into a position where it was necessary. Next time I have a foolish idea like that, you have my permission to tie me up until I come to my senses." She pulled away and handed him a glass of water, which he eagerly downed. "Let's get you upstairs. I have Cappa cooking a nice big breakfast, and we can get you cleaned up." She noticed he was covered in dirt and blood, and she couldn't help but wonder whether it was all his.
After wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, she helped him upstairs. Cappa came out of the bathroom. "Mistress, Cappa has drawn a bath for Master Lupin."
"Thank you, Cappa," she replied.
"It will be good to be clean," he said. As he lowered himself into the bath, with Wendy's help, he asked, "Do I look as bad as you?"
She walked over to the mirror. "Once you clean the dirt off, I think I will look worse." She watched him dunk himself in the tub to wash some of the dirt off his face and head. She moved the stool behind the tub and rolled up her sleeves to wash his hair. "There's something I have to tell you."
When she didn't immediately continue, he prompted, "Go on."
She began reluctantly, "I saw Lucius last night. Obviously, he knew about our little expedition. I think I was able to convince him you were nothing more than a friend and a rather poor choice for the expedition. You know I'm doing this to protect you, right?" she asked cautiously. She hated slandering him.
He sighed. "Yes, I do. Though, I look forward to the day when we won't have to hide from everyone." He sometimes wondered if she would ever take their relationship public. She came from a prominent pureblood family, and there were times when she seemed to espouse all the pureblood glory. He was, after all, a half-blood and a werewolf; two things definitely not accepted into polite society.
"As do I," she replied as she kissed him on the cheek. "Anyway, I was able to convince him our presence had nothing to do with the guest my brother is hosting and everything to do with Andorra. He will be convincing Timor that what I told him the other night was correct. That I was not there as an Auror, and the Ministry knows nothing about any guests my brother may be hosting."
She paused, giving him a chance to rinse the shampoo from his hair. "Of course, he is expecting more of my time as a result of that magnanimous gesture." She quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry. I know now that he told me about Andorra on purpose to get me in his debt. He holds a lot of power over me now. He can get me in trouble at work or with the Death Eaters and he knows it. I was foolish and let my emotions control my actions." She wrapped her arms around him, not caring if she got wet and soapy.
"We are all human and we all make mistakes," he replied quietly.
She could tell that he was hurt. "I know, but this was a bigger one than I normally make. I don't ask you to forgive me for this one. I nearly got us both killed and nearly ended your life as you know it. I'd understand if you wanted to leave."
"No, I don't want to leave. I just want it all to be over." He was thankful she was sitting behind him and couldn't see the look of anguish on his face.
"So do I." She continued to hold him, needing to feel him. "I stopped by to see Black last night and let him know that you are alive. I told him a half-truth, leaving out the part about Andorra and the spell. I decided he has no reason to know I can do that sort of magic. No one does."
"How much magic like that do you know?" he asked tentatively.
She started washing his back. "More than I should. I have studied Druid runes, learning much about magic from the times before wands, from a time when the mystics slowly went mad from using unchanneled power. Fortunately, Bella did not realize the depth to which I studied that magic. Reading ancient languages was not something she had much interest in, and she tended to ignore my studies in those languages. If she had known what I was learning, she surely would have brought me to the Dark Lord's attention.
"I know you've seen some of the books in the library, but I have others that I keep locked away in the basement. I'll show them to you when you're better, but I don't know that you will make much out of them, very few people can read them."
"Could any of it be used to defeat Voldemort?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. Most of these spells exact a price on the caster. That's why I've not used them much, but I have studied them. There's a reason wizards use wands. It protects us from the raw magical energies. I know he has used equally Dark Magic to become who he is. If I had a better idea of how he evolved, I might be able to find something useful. But again, I don't know who would use this magic. Depending on the spell, it might sentence the caster to madness."
In the bedroom, she could hear the clinking of dishes. "I think Cappa has brought us our breakfast. You should finish up, eat and then you can rest while I'm at work."
"You have to work?" he asked, very concerned about her well-being.
"Sadly, yes. Hopefully, I won't get a message from Lucius. Maybe I can arrange a day of field work so that I'd miss any message he sent me?" she mused.
"Do you really think you could do field work today?" He could tell that she was exhausted.
"I'll take a potion to get me through the day. I'll be fine." She helped him out of the tub and into a bathrobe.
With her assistance, he shuffled across the room and sank into the chair. While he felt somewhat rejuvenated by the bath, he had forgotten how taxing transforming without the potion could be, and that was just with missing one dose. He couldn't fathom going back to transforming without it. Eagerly, he dug into his breakfast. He couldn't recall his last meal. After a few minutes, he noticed that Wendy was not really eating anything. He thought it might be his lack of manners. He swallowed the food in his mouth and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "My apologies for my appalling lack of manners."
"What? Oh, no, that's perfectly understandable. You must be famished," she replied.
"What's wrong, then?" He continued eating at a more civilized pace.
"I'm just thinking about how stupid I was. I almost ruined both our lives, all because I wanted to see my daughter. I just… It's very hard for me to realize that I was so stupid." She found she couldn't look at him anymore.
"You weren't stupid, you were human. You let your emotions guide your behavior, something you aren't used to doing." He reached across the table to grab her hand. "We were lucky this time. We'll have to be more careful next time."
She pulled away, still ashamed by her behavior. "I need to get ready for work."
He watched her walk into the bathroom and soon heard the water running. She was obviously quite bothered by the events of the other night. He would have to spend some time with her that evening to help her work through her guilt.
By the time she emerged from the shower, he had finished eating. He was surprised by how much he had eaten; he had not realized how hungry he had been. She looked a little better, but still seemed physically and mentally exhausted.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked.
"Somewhat." He let her help him to the bed, as he could hardly stand on his own. "I think that once I rest, I'll be doing much better. Will you be back for dinner?"
"I hope so." She crawled next to him on the bed. "I'm so sorry," she said as she gently embraced him.
He was exhausted, but he wanted to make her feel better. He patted her reassuringly. "It wasn't all your fault. I knew full moon was coming, and I agreed to go with you. We share the blame on this one." He gave her a kiss. "Now go and have a good day at work. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine in a few days."
Normally, his sleep following a transformation was dreamless. That was not the case this time. He dreamt quite vividly.
He was a wolf, running through the woods. As a hungry wolf, he was searching for prey. Raising his nose to the air, he caught the scent of blood and sprinted to capture his prey before it could get away. It was close, and it smelled familiar, but he didn't have time to consider the scent. All he knew was that he was hungry and this was food.
Running towards his prey, he was eager to feed. Unfortunately, his prey was not cooperative. He was knocked back by something he couldn't see, something familiar that he could not put a name to. Once he recovered from the blow, he continued his chase of his prey. Just as he was closing on his prey, the scent vanished.
He sniffed
around the ground, searching for any sign of where his prey went. His
ears perked up as he heard a howl in the distance. Raising his
muzzle, he returned the howl. When he received a howl in reply, he
loped in that direction, stopping to howl every now and then to make
sure he was getting closer.
As he got closer, he caught the scent of the other. It was a she-wolf. He moved cautiously closer, aware this was not his territory.
The two wolves stood nose to nose and began sniffing each other. He couldn't remember ever meeting a she-wolf; this was a very exciting moment. In his excitement, he started bounding around her, and she around him.
As they played, he noticed an interesting scent, something that definitely marked her as female. He sniffed at her again and found the scent excited him. As instinct took over, he began rubbing against her and marking trees, trying to prove he was worthy. He sniffed the trees that she marked, further excited by her scent.
He nipped at her gently, testing her receptiveness to his advances. She pulled away and playfully nipped back. He bowed at her and whined softly, further testing her receptiveness. All indications were that she was interested in him. He tried mounting her, but she loped away. Sprinting after her, he had no intention of letting her get away.
She hadn't gone far and he caught up to her quickly. Once again, she ran from him when he got too close. He was quickly tiring of her game. This time, when he caught her, he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and gave a warning growl. She whimpered softly and he released her. When he mounted her, she did not run.