Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Assignment #2 - Cryptology (Codes Throughout History)
Task #10 - The Pioneer plaques: Write a space or alien!AU.
Warnings: minor character death, mentions of war
Further prompts are at the end.
Word Count: 2,674
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its associate universe belongs to J.K. Rowling, and not me.
"Can you hear me? You, yes you, wake up! We've got to move!"
Remus blinks drowsily as silver eyes and sandy-colored skin and jet-black hair swims through his vision. What's… going on? The world is tinged with- with a crimson glow, and every few moments the world seems to jerk - explosions, some part of him realizes, which, for whatever reason, seem so much louder than he remembers. Wait - he remembers? He can't- can't seem to remember where he's heard explosions like these before, why-?
He squeezes his eyes shut as a sharp pain sears through his head, and just barely hears-
"You've got to wake up - I can't carry you! And the ship leaves in three minutes!"
There's a pale blob - a hand, he realizes - that seems to flicker, far away at one moment then nearer the next and-
He blinks again, and this time the silver-eyed expression is tense - because somehow, he's caught the wrist of the hand that was about to slap him, that's hovering a hair's width above his face. He- What?
"You've got nice reflexes," the silver-eyed man says, a little hysterically, after a moment. "You with me now? Out of your fluffy little dreamland? We've got to run."
The man pulls him up with the arm Remus still holds, and despite the blurriness that still tinges his vision, Remus doesn't stumble once, once he's upright.
"Follow me," the man says, and then they're running. Ducking behind the wreckage, skirting through the shadows, the man leading the way and Remus, somehow, pulling them out of the danger that seems to come with every step, until they're besides a sleek, massive, navy-colored starship, stepping up the ramp towards another man who definitely looks related to Remus' silver-eyed savior and who lowers his gun as they draw nearer, ducking into the ship just as the man with the gun presses a button and the ramp starts to rise, and-
"You're late, Serious."
Remus' savior, who must be Serious (maybe a nickname?), winks. "And they waited? Aww, I didn't know they cared that much about me! What'd you tell them this time, Reg?"
Reg closes his eyes, sighs long and deep, and starts walking away, down the hall, not even a glance behind to check whether they're following him - Serious does, so after a moment's hesitation, Remus does, too. "I said that the time on your portscreen's late. But one of these days…"
"They'll leave me behind, I know, you've said," Serious finishes, then smirks. "I'll let you worry when that happens."
Reg sighs again, then points at Remus. "Who's this?"
"But of course, I haven't introduced you yet!" Serious exclaims grandiosely. "This is my brother, Regulus. Regulus, this is… is…"
"You didn't ask his name."
"I was a little busy, you know, running for my life," Serious pouts, the expression at odds with the way he's bouncing down the stairway they've entered. "What is your name, Oh Handsome One?"
Remus blinks - handsome? "I'm Remus. And you're… Serious?"
"Really? No one's ever called me that before!"
"His name is Sirius, spelled S-i-r-i-u-s," Regulus explains. "And yes, he will never stop making the puns, even long after they've stopped being funny."
Sirius gasps melodramatically, as they walk through a set of doors at the end of the stairs, to a large, open area that smells like blood and death. "Not funny? You'd better take that back, or I'll-"
"Another one? I thought Rodolphus had the last of them." It's a blonde woman with the same silver eyes as Sirius and Regulus who speaks, disapproving.
"Cissy! Oh, don't roll your eyes, one more is more dollars for us!" Remus frowns - more dollars?
"And more space to take up," she replies. "The ward is overcrowded, and too many puts a strain on our life support systems. As you know."
Sirius waves a hand dismissively. "That won't be a problem, I'm sure we'll just push some of the deadweight out the airlock if it comes to that."
And something about his tone… It's a joke. It has to be a joke, right?
"Who are you guys?" Remus finally thinks to ask. "You aren't the Peace Guard."
"The first one to ask," Cissy notes, an eyebrow raised.
"Nope, we aren't!" Sirius exclaims, then tips an imaginary hat at Remus. "We're pirates, doing all this human trafficking for the cash. Welcome aboard the Voldemort."
-oOo-
Life aboard the Voldemort isn't like what Remus would've thought life aboard a pirate ship would be. It's surprisingly… normal. Of course, there's violence that's horrifyingly normalized, especially to the refugees, rescued from the war zone like Remus, who don't immediately adjust, who are ejected from the ship. But there are also tasks and roles similar to any starship, like maintenance and charting, cooking and administration. As a refugee, Remus isn't supposed to be involved with any of that - by the crew's estimation, the ideal refugee would just sit in quietly in their ward, making no noise and pretending they don't exist - but, Sirius.
Of course it's Sirius.
The first time he seeks Remus out is the day after the rescue (even if it was for profit, Remus is still going to think of it like that because it was a rescue, at least for him), as he saunters into the refugees' level and makes his way to Remus' little corner.
"Ready to bust out of here?"
"What- I'm not allowed to. We're not allowed to leave this floor," Remus protests, grabbing hold of his tablet so it doesn't fall as Sirius pulls him to his feet.
"Aww, don't be like that! Tell me, do you really want to stay here?"
"I really don't want to be tossed out of the airlock."
Sirius rolls his eyes. "If you're helping us, who'll complain?"
"Helping?"
"Yep! I have a problem with the code, and, lucky me, one of our newcomers is a programmer!"
"How do you know that?"
Sirius winks - so he didn't. "Come on!"
"I-"
"Look, if it really comes down to it, just blame it on me. Say I forced you to come with me."
"…You mean you aren't?"
As it turns out, Sirius doesn't actually have a problem with his code, either - though that's hardly the most surprising thing, because his code is also malware, to hide the Voldemort from all surveillance, so that they don't show up on any radars, and the waystations they pass are conveniently turned the other way. The task twinges Remus' moral compass a little, but Sirius is also right that it's downright mind-numbing on the refugees' level, and at least they're not… sending out malware to disable the defense systems of other ships… so the Voldemort can attack them…
It's Remus' third week on the starship, when that happens. He takes small comfort in the fact that Sirius doesn't join the raid, even as the rest of him despises himself for just standing by, because what, really, can he do?
But another thing: Sirius is not working on the malware, pretty much any time he's supposed to. He says it's to give Remus a tour of the starship, but they've already seen the entire ship, excluding the prohibited areas, by the time the first week is up, and Remus gets the feeling he did this before Remus came aboard, too. It's like Sirius is actively avoiding work, almost like… like Sirius wants the Voldemort to get caught. It's a thought Remus dismisses at first, because what kind of pirate would want to get caught? Except, the more he thinks about it, the more he's certain his impression's correct - the more he's certain that Sirius doesn't want to be a pirate.
Sirius' refusal to participate in the raids, which Remus realizes when he stumbles upon an argument between Sirius and his father, Orion, is another clue.
It's six weeks since the rescue, seven weeks to the nearest wormhole, when Remus decides to ask: "Why are you on the Voldemort?"
Sirius squints at him. "I'm not sure if you've realized, but I am a pirate…"
Remus rolls his eyes. "Obviously. You know what I mean - why are you a pirate?"
"For the money, of course!" Sirius proclaims. "Piracy is one of the most profitable jobs in the universe-"
"No. That's not why you do it," Remus interrupts. "I don't think it is. You don't actually want to hurt anyone, do you?"
"Of course I do!" Sirius protests. "Or, I don't care about hurting people, I only care about the profit! And if I have to kill to get what I want, so be it!"
"Then why are you never on raids? Why do you waste your time when your code's important to keep the Voldemort from being detected?"
"I'm a naturally contradictory person!"
Remus shakes his head. "I mean, you are, but I don't think that's why. Your parents, your cousins, your family, are also pirates. Did you get a choice in the matter?"
"Why are you so determined to make me the good guy? I'm not!" He turns to the mass of screens that's his workstation - because for once they're actually where Sirius is supposed to be - angrily, then glances back at Remus to say, "You want me to spend more time on my malware? Okay, fine, I'll do it!"
-oOo-
"Ooh, look!" Remus' heart sinks as he recognizes the woman: Bellatrix, Sirius' slightly-insane cousin. "It's my little baby cousin and his boyfriend! What are you doing, away from your little landlubber floor? You're not allowed to be here - what'll the captain say?"
"He's helping me write my code," Sirius says disdainfully. "You know, the programs I write so Enforcement can't find us? Not that you'd know your way around a computer."
Bellatrix giggles, the sound high and grating. "Sure you are - that's why you're half the ship away from the tech bay. And, you're not allowed to show any of the landlubbers anything they could use, unless," she giggles again, "you're willing to go flush…"
No. Is she telling the truth?
"In fact," she adds, "you've become such a nuisance, baby cousin… I'm sure it wouldn't take too much effort to convince the captain that you're too much of a bother, no matter how important your parents are…"
And there's- She's threatening Sirius, threatening Pack, which is so much worse than her threatening Remus himself- Bellatrix takes an uneasy step back and Remus realizes that there's a low hum, a growl, coming from him, that he's vibrating, and-
There's a hand on his shoulder. He glances towards it instinctively and it's Sirius, silver eyes uncharacteristically serious as he whispers, "Do you trust me?"
Somehow, for whatever reason, Remus finds that the answer is yes. He nods.
Sirius steps towards Bellatrix, and Remus just barely manages not to pounce and put himself between the danger and Pack, reminds himself over and over again that violence won't do anything, that Sirius asked whether he trusts him which means he has a plan.
Sirius whispers something into Bellatrix's ear, and she pales, glaring at both of them before walking away with a humph.
It takes several moments for Remus to calm down, as he reassures himself that the danger's gone, that he won't have to go all-
Wait. All what?
And then suddenly he's having that splitting headache again, the same that comes whenever he tries to remember why he was in the war zone, away from Hogwarts University- and by the time the headache passes they're back in the tech bay, at Sirius' workstation, and he's almost forgotten what he was thinking about before the pain.
Sirius shows him a deck of cards. "Blackjack?"
They play a couple of rounds, but then Sirius is shuffling the deck, trying to do a waterfall even though he obviously can't, and it's almost like he's stalling…
"What is it?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just did," Remus deadpans.
"Haha. No, really. Can I ask you something else, and can you give me an actual answer?"
It almost slips out, another joke starting with, I mean, technically, except he somehow knows that if he says that, Sirius will pull back again, hide behind his shields and act like nothing could ever bother him again, and then they'll be back to where they started. "I promise I'll try."
Sirius nods. "Why do you trust me?"
Oh. This. "I… I'm not too sure, to be honest. But… but you were the one who saved me, who pulled me off that planet even though - don't think I've forgotten - you risked being left behind. And I think you're stalling, when you skive off work to play tour guide with me through the ship. And you never join the raids."
"That's all to spite Mother and Father!" Sirius protests. "And saving you, that was part of the job, to earn cash - I'm not doing this for good reasons!"
"I know, I know, you're a big bad pirate and everything-"
"I'm serious - I'm not a good person! I'm not the hero you, for whatever reason, think I am."
"Can I ask you something, then? Why are you so set on proving me wrong? We've all done things, have secrets, that we're not exactly proud of-"
"Including you? What's your secret, stealing from a candy store when you were five?"
"I've never stolen anything," Remus protests immediately, then realizes his mistake the next moment - because of course not stealing, for a pirate, wouldn't be the norm. "And that's not my point. Yes, that includes me," and for some reason, a strange shock runs through his body at the words, like there's something he's forgotten, "that includes pretty much everyone in the universe, but most of us don't let that define us. So why are you spending all your energy on proving me wrong, when you could try and prove me right?"
But it so obviously doesn't reach Sirius, because Remus can already see those walls going back up again, as he says, "Maybe I don't want to prove you right. Maybe I don't want to be a good little citizen like you. Didn't that ever occur to you?"
Remus shakes his head. "I mean, yes, but no. I don't think that's it."
Sirius shrugs blasely, before perking up. "Ooh, have you played BS?"
-oOo-
They're three weeks out from the Leaky Cauldron wormhole when it happens.
Sirens-light-explosions-gunfire-alarms-a pinching feel at Remus' neck before everything goes black-
-oOo-
"Congratulations, Alpha Lupin."
It's hard to think beyond the stabbing pain through his temples, and the speaker must notice that there's something wrong because then his jaw's being forced open, something put inside his mouth as he's forced to swallow, and-
Then there are memories flooding through his mind, bone-breaking skin-pulling wolf-form transformations and forced battles as 'tests' and limbs torn off and savage bites and discipline and pack structures and death and oh. Oh.
This is why he can't remember the past three years of his life.
This is why he was in the war zone in the first place.
"I'll admit, I had my doubts about your plan. Being at one of the battle zones and hoping someone would pick you up, infiltrating the smuggling operation full of dangerous criminals, wiping your memory so no one could glean the plan from your mind, relying on that tracking chip so we could find you - forgive me, my boy, but it all seemed a bit risky. But Minerva assured me of your abilities, and, well, it all turned out the way we wanted, in the end, didn't it?"
"Yes, sir," Remus whispers.
Albus Dumbledore beams, then pats Remus' leg through the thin hospital-issue blanket. "I'll leave you to recover - the doctors say you'll be back in perfect health in a day, but we've decided to give you two days, as a reward for your good work. Minerva says that your pack's been eagerly awaiting your return."
Winter Seasonal Challenges
Days of the Year & Religious Events: January 16th - National Nothing Day: Write about being able to help/prevent something and doing nothing.
Black History Month: Usain Bolt: Write someone or something fast.
Crochet Week: V Double Crochet Stitch: (object) blanket
Colours: Navy
Locations: St. Mungo's Hospital
Crystals & Gemstones: Meteorite: (word) Stability
Tarot Reading: Page of Swords: Write about someone who is eager to begin something
Slytherin Characters: Bellatrix Black
Slytherin OTPs: Sirius/Remus
But Can You Spell It? E - (relationship) Enemies
Writing Club: February
Character Appreciation: AU: Soldier
Record Collection: Fairground, Simply Red: Write about going home to someone special.
Written in the Stars: (action) flying
Book Club: Sage: (word) independent, (character) Sirius Black, (plot point) stealing something
Amber's Apothecary: (word) flame
Elizabeth's Empire: (task) Write the OTP of a student NOT in your house BONUS
Liza's Loves: Fighter - Write about someone fighting for a living. (A soldier, a cage-fighter, a wrestler, a bodyguard, a bouncer etc)
Angel's Archive: E - (trope) Enemies to Lovers
Sophie's Serial Killers: Prompt: (scenario) Self Defense
Scamander's Case: (relationship) cousins
Film Festival: (action) Starting a fire
Lyric Alley: Don't know if you love me or you want me dead
TV Spree: 7th: Snow: Greedy
EnTitled: Shadow - Write about a trap - alt - Emotion: Suspicious
Would You Rather? Write a fic set in the Marauders Era OR a fic set in the Next-Gen Era?
You Get My Love: Romantic - (genre) romance
Stop! Hamper Time: Cakes: Words - Devil's Food Cake: Ensnare
Stickers Club: Salazar Slytherin's Locket - Character: Regulus Black
That Lovin' Feeling: Option 1 - First time you jump to their defence
Resolution Evolution: Write - Write a fic that goes over 2.5k words
Fantasy February: Day Three - Intergalactic Pirates
365: (au) pirate
Scavenger Hunt: AU: Space
Fantastic Beasts: Imperial Dragonfly - AU: Pirate
