A few weeks later, Remus was wheeling his trunk through a small, beaten up house somewhere just outside of York. The sharp pop made by him Apparating had echoed through the house as he appeared in the hallway. The house seemed oddly still and quiet, and his voice echoed as he called out, "Dad?" When he had no response, he called out again and heard a faint response. Remus strode into the kitchen to see his father sitting with a cup of tea looking up at him.
"Hello, Dad," Remus greeted him. After a pause he added, "Are you well?"
"Hello," his father replied, standing to talk to him. "I'm just a bit tired, is all. I was waiting for you to come home to see that you're safe." Tired, Remus thought, was a grand understatement. His eyes seemed dull and a bit sunken, and his face looked thinner in a way that did not seem at all healthy.
"I'm sorry," Remus said quickly. "I should have come home sooner, not spent so much time at Minette's house, and-"
"Now, that's alright, I said I'm fine," his father cut him off, waving a hand and smiling weakly. "You can just help yourself to something to eat if you want, and I'm going to head off to bed. Good-night."
Remus watched his father leave the room and followed after him after washing his father's cup and putting it away. He climbed up the staircase, levitating his trunk in front of him, and turned into the spare bedroom. He lit a lamp, set down the trunk, and rummaged through his trunk for pajamas before giving up and deciding just to sleep in his clothes. He turned to find an envelope sitting on the bed, which he was sure had not been present before he turned around. He glanced around quickly for anyone else, but the room was small, and it was not hard to tell that it was empty. He took a step toward the bed and picked up the envelope. It was completely blank except for the words "For the eyes of Remus Lupin" written neatly on it. Remus held it a second longer before turning the envelope over and opening it. He found a piece of parchment inside with tidy, unfamiliar handwriting on it:
Mr. Lupin:
In these difficult times, we find that it is hard to tell where our loyalties may fall. This is, of course, no matter to be taken lightly. We must all consider where the most benefits may be, and I believe you will agree that it is with us. We also would find many benefits in your assistance, not limiting our views as so many do today. Please consider our proposal; we will be noting your movements.
Remus read this note through twice, then looked back at the envelope which was sitting on the bed next to him to find the writing on it gone and replaced with a shimmering green Dark Mark.
Remus was awoken a minute later (though it was a miracle he was able to fall asleep in the first place) by a crash of splintering wood. He leapt up off of his bed and his head spun from the suddenness of the movement. He was already at the door and shaking his head groggily when he heard a shout from down the staircase.
"Come out! We know you're here!"
Remus stumbled out of his bedroom to see two men standing in the doorway to the house, amid a thousand chips of wood that were once the front door, with their wands drawn.
"Hey!" Remus called, his throat making the words scratchy and faint. He cleared his throat and called out again, though the men had already turned with their wands pointed straight at him, "There's no need for that! Who are you? What's going on here?"
"Do you live here?" the shorter one asked him in a booming voice.
"Of course I do! What're you doing here? Are you- are you from the Ministry?" Remus responded, his brain starting to catch up with the situation.
"The Dark Mark is currently over this house," the other man said in a suspicious tone. "You care to explain that?"
"I- what?" Remus asked incredulously. The room started to spin in front of him, and he gripped the railing of the stairway for balance.
Before anyone could get another word out, something had caught the back of his robes and jerked him backward into his room. The door slammed and locked behind him, and Remus fell onto the floor and slid further until he slammed into a wall. He saw a dark green wall of magic seal over the door before a tall, figure, hooded and masked stepped in front of him. Remus' mind was screaming at him, but both his confusion and sheer terror took the form of numbness spreading throughout his body. He bit his lip hard, to keep from shaking, then tilted his head up to look at the Death Eater before him.
"Good evening, friend," a disturbingly placid voice said from behind the mask as he slipped his wand back into his pocket. "I do believe you received our letter earlier." Remus nodded his head as much as his nerves would permit him to. "Well, that's good then. I expect that you have considered our proposal-"
Here he was cut off by a large bang from outside the door, although it sounded muffled and the door itself barely moved. After a moment, a scream was heard, and Remus recognized the voice vaguely as one of the Aurors who had been downstairs.
"-And I hope you've decided to accept our offer," the Death Eater continued coolly. Remus saw pale hands draw his wand once again and step closer to Remus to point it at his chest. "Well then?" he asked after a moment's silence.
Remus clamped his eyes shut and tried to think of any way to escape from this situation. He could feel an anti-Apparition barrier which the Death Eater had no doubt placed around the room, and tried to suppress his fear so that he could at least speak coherently.
"Who's died?" Remus finally asked the man in a low voice.
"I'm sorry?"
"Who did you kill? They said the Dark Mark was over the house, but no one's here except me and my-" Remus cut himself off as realization fell over him like cold water.
"The Dark Mark has been present since before you arrived," the Death Eater replied, an eerie touch of amusement in his voice. "Did you not realize? But of course, you Apparated in…"
"You," Remus breathed, "-you killed my father, and you actually expect me to join you?" Remus' fear had been forgotten. Something new was gripping him. A horrible, blinding mix of grief and rage was making him burn all over as he gripped the carpet tightly and had to force himself not to leap at the man, remembering that he didn't have his wand. "You pathetic, cowardice scum! You-"
Two things happened at once then: the Death Eater began to swoop down upon Remus, and the door of the room fell, in two pieces, onto the ground. The noise made by the second cause the Death Eater to twist around again, his legs bent, to see the shorter of the Aurors standing with his wand outstretched toward the Death Eater.
"Flagr-" the Death Eater started, jerking his wand through the air at the Auror. He never finished, though, because Remus' had taken the opportunity to lunge forward and sweep the Death Eater's legs out from under him, knocking him flat on his back. His wand fell out of his hand and Remus snatched it up and was instantly kneeling on the man's chest and pointing the wand at his throat.
Before Remus could begin to think of a curse powerful enough to do what he wanted to do to the man, the Auror had cried "Stupefy!" and Remus had to jump out of the way of a streak of red light which presently hit the Death Eater, who flew up a foot in the air from the force of the spell before smashing back onto the ground, unconscious.
"You alright?" the Auror asked Remus, striding across the room and offering Remus a hand to help him up off the floor (for, in jumping away from the curse, he had fallen over again).
"I- I suppose," Remus replied shakily. "What happened to the other one of you?" he asked, realizing the man was alone and the house was quiet. The Auror's face grew dark as he pulled Remus to his feet.
"Killed," he grunted. "By an inferius. I took care of him, though."
Remus suddenly remembered his father and the Dark Mark over the house, and rushed out of the room. If the house hadn't been in bad shape earlier that evening, it certainly wasn't improved by the fight. There was a hole in the wooden railing, and Remus saw a body laying at the bottom of it, sitting it a dark pool that made Remus turn away. Then he saw, at the end of the hallway, his father's lifeless body, his clothes ripped, and a path of dried blood running down his chin. Remus had fallen to his knees at his father's side before even realizing that he was walking to him, and put his hand uselessly on his father's sleeve.
"Was he," the Auror asked quietly, "your father?" Remus nodded stiffly, his face tightening and his eyes starting to sting. "I'm sorry." The man placed his hand on Remus' shoulder and Remus clamped his eyes shut, as if he could will away everything around him if only he couldn't see it. "Do you have anyone you can stay with?" the Auror asked him after a few minutes.
"Yes," Remus said, rising to his feet. Suddenly, he didn't have any feelings at all. Everything just seemed to exist around him, and he kept himself focused on where he was going to go now in hopes of impeding the return of any realization that he was standing by his father's dead body.
"Well, then," the man said, his voice still gentle, but now more businesslike, "I'll need you to come back here tomorrow first thing in the morning, alright? Can you tell me your name and where you're planning to go here?" He handed Remus a quill and something to write on and Remus absentmindedly wrote down Minette's address, the first that came to mind, and his own name, as he was instructed. "Do you need any help getting there?" the Auror asked him once he had finshed.
"No, I'll be…fine," Remus said, not believing he could manage those words truthfully.
"Alright, goodnight, then. My name's Elphias, by the way. Sure you'll be alright?" he asked again sharply, as Remus swayed a bit and steadied himself on the wall.
"Yes… I'll be going now." Remus walked quickly to his room and grabbed the handle of his trunk, calling out "Good-bye" loudly before disapparating once again to the still and quiet of Minette's house.
I am so, so, so, so sorry it's taken me this long to update. I am, by no means, quitting writing FL, and I hope you're all still reading this (although if you aren't, I'm not really talking to anyone), and I hope you liked this new chapter! It was a bit more action-y and a lot more depressing than others have been (at least I think so), but I hope you like it still, so please R&R! I'll get up the next chapter in a shorter time, I promise!
