Chapter 16: Chocolate

"Poisoned?" Remus asked, his face white as a sheet.

"I'm afraid so," Harry confirmed. He'd been afraid of this when he'd first seen Remus' arm, and now that Sirius had said it, Harry knew it was so.

"Can we fix it?" Remus asked.

"Not without some pretty expensive medicine," Sirius replied. "And we'd need it fast. This stuff spreads quickly and once it reaches your heart, it's over."

Remus gulped. "Alright, so I'm going to die," he said matter-of-factly. "Alright. Fine."

"Remus I'm so sorry," Harry said sadly. It was one thing to be in the arena and know that the odds were most definitely not in your favor. It was another thing entirely to know that odds no longer had anything to do with it – that death was imminent and unavoidable.

"It's alright," Remus replied. "I never thought I was going to make it. I knew the arena would somehow kill me eventually."

"We'll stay with you," Harry said. "Until… you know."

"You should go," Remus protested. "You should find a better hiding place, make a plan to get back at the Careers. If you stay, I won't be the only one who dies here today."

"We're staying," Sirius declared, surprising Harry. He'd have guessed Sirius to be one to want to save his own skin, not wait around in such a terribly defensible location for up to a day. He began pulling desks in front of the door, forming a sort of barricade.

"We're staying," Harry repeated firmly when Remus looked like he was going to protest. "Now you should get comfortable," he added, moving Remus to the floor, where he could lie down. They didn't have blankets like they did back in the trophy room, so Remus was lying against the stone cold floor, but he didn't seem to care.

"Thanks you guys," Remus said. "You really don't have to stay with me though," he added.

"This is what friends do," Harry declared. "Friends don't leave each other to die."

"Friends," Remus muttered, mulling the word over. "I like that idea."

"How's he doing?" Sirius asked a few hours later. So far, things had been quiet. It seemed that they were the only ones up on the fourth floor. Perhaps the Gamemakers were taking pity on Remus, and keeping the other tributes busy for a while so that he could die in peace. Either way, Harry was grateful for the lack of interruption.

"Not well," Harry whispered back. Remus was shivering now, and though Harry and Sirius had both sacrificed their jackets for the boy, they didn't seem to be doing much good. "He has an hour left maybe, two hours at best."

"I guess his mentors couldn't afford the medicine," Sirius said sadly.

"If only we had something to cheer him up," Harry muttered. "He told me once that he likes chocolate. He said that going into the arena was worth it, if only because he got to try chocolate before he died. I bet he'd love to have one last taste."

"All I have is a granola bar," Sirius said, pulling the food item from his pocket. "I left everything else back in the trophy room."

"I don't even have a granola bar," Harry replied. "I should have grabbed my pack before we left."

"It would have hindered you in the fight," Sirius stated. "Be glad you didn't have it weighing you down, or you'd probably be dead by now."

"How do you think they poisoned him?" Harry wondered, looking back at Remus.

"They probably dipped the blade in something," Sirius replied.

"Yeah, but where did they find poison to dip their blades in?" Harry asked.

"Who knows?" Sirius responded. "That dungeon is probably full of mysterious things. I guess poison is one of them."

Harry sighed. "Of course the Careers would end up finding the hidden poison," he muttered.

"The tributes from two are probably trained to smell it out," Sirius said, laughing. "I bet that Academy they run in two has classes on it."

"Maybe," Harry muttered.

A small tinkling noise outside the window caught Harry's attention then, and he got up and creeped forward curiously. Outside the window was a little container sitting on the sill with a parachute strapped to the back – a gift from outside the arena.

"Sirius! A parachute!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. Surely this was it! Remus' mentors had collected enough money to sent him the medicine.

The window was stiff, so it took Harry and Sirius' combined strength to get it open. Once they had, Harry eagerly pulled the top off the container, ready to administer the medicine to Remus immediately. To his disappointment though, there was no medicine inside. Just three small squares of chocolate. A note fell out of the container and into Harry's lap. He picked it up and read: Sorry I couldn't swing the medicine.

"Hagrid," Harry muttered, a sad smile appearing on his face. Only Hagrid would spend money on something like this. "Thanks anyway," he said out loud, knowing that Hagrid was listening.

"It's chocolate," Sirius said in confusion. "Why would your mentor send you chocolate?"

"To make it worth it," Harry replied. "Being here."

Harry handed one of the squares to Sirius and then crept over to Remus and put one in the boy's hand before taking the third for himself. "To Remus," Harry toasted, even though they were eating chocolate and not drinking champagne.

"To Remus," Sirius whispered.

"Thanks Harry," Remus managed to get out, putting the chocolate to his lips.

Harry and Sirius copied him, savoring the chocolate while they could. It was gone quickly though and Harry puzzled over how something that lasted so little time could possibly be worth it. When he saw how happy and peaceful Remus looked though, he didn't question it anymore.

"Definitely worth it," Remus said quietly. The shivering had stopped and Harry and Sirius both knew that his time was almost over.

"I'm glad you liked the chocolate," Harry said.

"Not the chocolate," Remus protested. "You guys. You guys are my first friends. All this was worth it… because I got to meet you, and have friends."

Harry swallowed to force his tears back. He grabbed onto Remus' hand and Sirius did the same on the other side.

"We're with you," Sirius assured him. "We're here for you."

Remus smiled and closed his eyes. With a shudder, he went still and his arms went limp. His head lolled to the side and in the distance, a canon sounded. Harry knew that it was over – Remus' fight was done.

He let go of Remus' hand and placed it carefully on the ground. He could still taste the chocolate in his mouth. A tear fell from his eye and he wiped it away with his sleeve.

"We have to go," Sirius said finally. "We have to find somewhere safer to hide."

"Let's go," Harry muttered, not wanting to linger.

They ended up going up to what Harry presumed was the sixth floor. There was a hidden alcove there that was big enough for them both to sit in comfortably, and was disguised enough that unless someone knew it was there, they wouldn't be found. It also had a tunnel exit in the back, which Sirius decided was most important in case they did get found out.

It had been a long night and even longer day. Harry and Sirius agreed that there was no need for a watch rotation and instead they both went to sleep, wondering how in one day, their number had shrunk from six to two.

"We need to do something," Sirius declared the next morning.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"We can't just sit in this alcove until we're the only two left alive," Sirius pointed out. "As it is, we should probably part ways soon. There's only ten tributes left, us included."

"Is that all?" Harry asked in surprise. He'd lost count. "I don't think we should part ways until the Careers have been dealt with," he declared.

"Good point," Sirius said. "If they haven't turned on each other, then half the tributes left are with them."

"We need to take them down," Harry declared. "If we don't, they're going to win."

"I don't care what Remus said yesterday about good friends and chocolate," Sirius muttered. "If one of the Careers wins, then this whole thing definitely won't have been worth it."

"Is that why you volunteered?" Harry asked.

"What?" Sirius said in surprise.

"To take down the Careers," Harry muttered. "Is that why you volunteered?"

"Nah, I'd have volunteered eventually," Sirius replied. "I just always hoped that the year I did volunteer would be a year the Careers lost."

"So why did you volunteer?" Harry wondered. He'd asked before and still hadn't gotten a straight answer on it.

"It's complicated," Sirius responded. "You wouldn't understand."

He changed the subject then to planning their attack on the Careers. It would have to be while they were separated; they couldn't attack them all at once or they'd be outnumbered for sure. Sirius figured their best chance would be to attack whoever was tasked with staying back to guard their stash and then lying in wait for the rest to return, hopefully not all at once.

Harry agreed that this was the best course of action – besides, searching the castle for them would be fruitless, the castle was huge and the Careers were few. It was best to strike where they knew the Careers would be.

They decided to go that night. They would have the cover of darkness to sneak through the castle, and whoever was guarding would probably be sleepy – an advantage for them. They also agreed that Sirius would take the offensive position while Harry played defense. Harry was sure if the situation called for it, he would be able to kill one of the Careers – of anyone in the arena, he hated them the most. But Sirius had already killed in the arena, and if Harry could avoid killing, he would be quite content with that too.

When night came and they were ready to head out, they split Sirius' granola bar for strength and weapons out, they ventured into the castle.