Chapter Sixty: Chapter 31 (January 13th, 1971)

Rosier walked behind him his wand digging painfully into Remus' back. Mulciber walked side by side with Severus quite pleased with the boy who seemed to jump into first place with whatever competition they were putting the first years through. Remus knew this much because Rosier had a bad habit of muttering bitterly to himself when he was jealous, so Remus got the rundown on this strange club driven by the seventh year Slytherin students. He only remained lost as to who this dark lord was. A seventh year? Remus didn't think so. Besides, if that was the case Dumbledore wouldn't be gone for the weekend. More likely than not it was a cruel parent who supported their child's cruel extracurriculars.

They had pulled their hoods on their winter robes up over their heads except for Rosier who was forced to give his to Remus so he looked, to the many passing students, like a Slytherin. As they entered another corridor, where he wasn't entirely sure anymore, he finally heard a Professor but grappled whether the Slytherin Head of House would help or not. Both because Professor Slughorn didn't seem to even know he existed and he wasn't sure if he would favor his house students, especially over a student who didn't have famous relatives and did poorly in potions.

"Professor Slughorn!" He yelped deciding he had to at least try.

"Huh? Well Hello, boys. Up for a late-night stroll? Best be getting back to your dorms." Came the good-natured chuckle of the clueless professor.

"Sir help!" He shouted as Rosier jammed the tip of his wand hard into his side muttering "Silencio."

"Yes, sir help me with my potions project next class period please." Severus quickly interceded negating Remus' attempt at help and successfully impressing Mulciber. Remus felt his irritation with Severus grow and felt quite betrayed.

"Oh? Yes, yes, of course, Severus my boy. Though I doubt you need much help. You're one of my best students." Remus tried to speak and was going to move around, something to draw the professor's attention, but someone had cast a full body lock curse on him, probably Mulciber, and he was panicking too much to think clearly.

His vision went black and splotchy as he began to hyperventilate if there was one thing that sent him back to that dilapidated house with the shadow man it was not being able to move. He wasn't aware of Slughorn leaving, of being carried like a board quickly up even more stairs and into some sort of room. As soon as he could speak and move he flailed and screamed like he was dying. He imagined it was quite a sight, a wild terrorized boy screaming and flailing like a mad man.

"Stop that or I'll curse you again you freak!" Mulciber sneered at him standing above him and looking at him with contempt.

He forced his screams to quiet into insane sounding moans covering his mouth with his hand to stifle them as much as possible.

"Geez what a weirdo he acts as if we're going to kill him or something. Rosier tie him up I need to go tell the seventh years we finally have Sirius and James." There was malicious disgust in the older boy's voice and he left with the others. Now Remus was at the mercy of Severus, who was looking anywhere but at him, and Rosier who was looking at Severus with contempt.

Rosier now had Remus' wand in his pocket and his survival instincts were kicking in again, he found himself calming down as he tried to think of his best way out. He didn't fight as the two boys roughly shoved him into a chair and conjured ropes to wrap tightly around his wrists, mistakenly not binding him to the chair due to his feigned compliance.

He was begrudgingly impressed by Severus' spellwork as they hadn't learned it in class yet but he felt too betrayed to really give him much credit. He wished he didn't understand Severus' position, it would make it easier to just be mad at him. A stifling quiet stretched through the room, the tension between Rosier and Severus clear. Remus was just about to open his mouth, a plan to escape beginning to form in his mind, when the door slammed open and Avery stalked in face dark.

"Time to make the mudblood bleed."

"I believe he's actually a half-blood," Severus interjected rather timidly, though Remus wondered why he even bothered.

"Same difference." A fist connected with Remus' gut and he inhaled sharply. He had been punched and pummeled by many people and Avery's punch was nothing special even if Remus pretended it was for self-preservation. It quickly became clear Avery was resorting to physical violence simply because it gave him more satisfaction.

"Shouldn't we just hex him Avery?" Severus interjected again, a little sharper. "Why not save your punches for James and Sirius. They are the ones that humiliated ..."

"SHUT UP SEVERUS OR MY FIST WILL FIND YOU!" Roared Avery an intense dark anger rolling off him along with a sickening smell of sweat. Again and again and again. However, Remus' resolve not to give him the satisfaction of screaming soon stopped Avery cold.

"Why aren't you screaming?" He demanded jabbing his wand at Remus as if expecting him to be scared by this.

"Because you punch like a girl!" He retorted with as much animosity as he could muster. It might not seem like it to the others but Remus had considered his position carefully, really he had. But he needed them all blindingly mad, mad enough to miss him untying his ropes. It was the first time his father's paranoid training only months after he returned home from being kidnapped paid off.

As Avery snapped and punched him so hard the chair tipped over he remembered sobbing as a scared boy tied tight to a chair as his father shouted at him to get out of it and to do better. By the time Hope Lupin had returned home from going out with a few friends to relieve stress, and she found her son's wrists raw and red crying on the kitchen floor and her husband gone.

It had been the last time his mother had left home for years, and the last time she ever went out with friends. Guilt twisted in Remus' gut recalling the painful memory. He had snuck to the stairway banister and heard his father and mother yelling. Remus liked to pretend they hadn't fought as he grew up and most of the time they didn't, but when he was forced to remember when they actually got in rows he was forced to remember they were all because of him.

"Er, should we silencio him?" It was only then Remus caught up to the pain he now felt at being knocked sideways, his shoulder probably dislocated, and realized he had at last given in to screaming in pain.

"No I want to hear the filthy mudblood scream." Clearly both Rosier and Severus were uncomfortable but they were both younger and not in power and when Avery kicked Remus from his position in his tipped over chair, they both quickly retreated.

He wheezed out an apology as he was beginning to fear he'd be beaten to death but the boy seemed blinded by rage. Pain spread across Remus' body like a fire and he twisted against the ropes, forcing himself to focus on trying to get away, to get out of the rope. Not many of the times Remus had got beaten had lasted quite this long, and even with a pain tolerance far surpassing most children and even adults, he was beginning to really feel it.

"Shut UP!" Remus' vision was starting to blur, it wasn't the pain that was the worst part, no, the main problem was rather the fact due to the persistent attack he couldn't get enough oxygen in.

"Avery stop!" He inhaled violently finally given the chance.

"He's a filthy mudblood who deserves to die! Don't tell me to stop I'm doing my job and the Dark Lord will be proud!"

"Avery it isn't the time for that. Stop it!" Mulciber urged and finally Avery seemed to realize the fact killing a student would get him expelled from Hogwarts.

"Bloody Hell!" He muttered then stormed out of the room. Mulciber didn't check to see how badly Remus was injured he just charged after his friend leaving Remus alone with Severus and Rosier, who returned, it seemed to babysit him.

"So they pit….you first years against each other. Why?"

"That's a damn good question!" Rosier admitted ignoring the dirty look Severus sent him at spilling information he probably wasn't supposed to.

"I can't believe I'm losing to a lowly half-blood!" Rosier walked over to Severus and the two soon got in an argument, which didn't even need any more promting from Remus, as it seemed they had agreed not to try to outdo one another, both two had been in the lowest positions. Only now Severus seemed to have higher standing and apparently Rosier had been jealous because Lucius had seemed friendly with him from the get-go and Severus was saying it was because Rosier was slow and lazy and soon neither of them were paying any attention to Remus.

He wasted no time. His wrist was badly swollen which made the process agonizing and slow, he was covered in sweat by the time he was finished but he finished. He was ready to make his move to escape but at that moment the door opened again.

"What are you fools shouting at each other for?" Mulciber questioned angrily upon entering again.

"It's not fair Severus should be higher than me just because of some coincidence," Rosier whined, sounding very much like a pouty kid.

"We make you firsties work for it because you need to earn respect. Are you saying Bellatrix, the most honored student in the Dark Lord's eyes is wrong?" He challenged and Rosier quickly shook his head and shut up.

Remus held his breath as Mulciber walked over to him, he knew if it was found out he untied himself it would all be over.

"Well, at least Avery did us a favor in knocking out the mouthy little twat. I sure see why he's friends with the blood traitors."

"Is Bellatrix on her way?" Severus asked quietly and Mulicber turned away from his inspection of Remus and walked back towards the two Slytherin first years.

"Yes, she is. She'll decide how to deal with the mudblood and blood traitors. With her help, we'll get to actually meet the Dark Lord!" It was the reverence for whoever this Lord was in the older boy's voice that made Remus feel ill. It sounded less like some approving parent and more like some sort of savior they were rallying behind.

"I have a good idea so that we can discuss this without the...mudblood possibly listening in," Severus interjected calmly before Mulciber, who seemed ready to break out into a rant, could continue.

"He's passed out you git but let's hear it." Remus couldn't hear what Severus whispered but Mulicber seemed to like it a great deal. If it meant they would leave then Remus was all for it.

He counted the seconds as Rosier, who seemed little more than an errand boy at the moment, was told to go fetch something. Several minutes later, five to be exact, he returned. Remus didn't dare look but he heard something being set down and the quick retreat of several footsteps before the door shut and locked.

It took him a while to peel himself away from the chair his body aching. He opened his eyes as he sat up and rubbed his wrists, satisfied that they were neither red nor raw. If he ever talked to his father again, maybe one day he could tell him it had come in handy.

He had never understood why his father had been so convinced Greyback would come for him again, would take him again. Especially, when his mother had been so adamant about the fact it had been a freak accident and nothing like that would ever happen again. He let out a sigh feeling bad his mother wasn't right, he had been kidnapped two times if this even really counted. He forced himself to his feet and then froze.

Something was rising out of a large chest that had been placed near the tipped over chair. He blinked his eyes a few times sure he was just being paranoid with himself in the darkroom. But remembering the way the Slytherins had been very quick to retreat he reached for his wand only to realize it wasn't on him. His wand was still across the room where Rosier had shoved it in between two books on a shelf.

He was sure they had put him in this room with some sort of curse activated or creature to guard him. But he forced himself to acknowledge the Slytherins wouldn't have some monster hidden to torture other students with and slowly began moving across the room towards his wand.

His fingers had just curled over it when he heard a sound and whipped around panic and fear that he didn't think possible taking him over completely.