Title: Who is Remus Lupin?

Warnings: Magical AU.

Rating: M

Artwork: Sirius x Remus ID by Sirius-x-Remus

A/N: Another short chapter but I wanted to keep the updates quick. Also, un-beta-ed so feel free to point out any mistakes. I'm probably going to do a do-over once posted.

Sirius's hands trembled as he sifted through the heavy tome of wards and locking spells, Remus's screams of agony echoing in his head. He could not forget the werewolf's cries no matter how he tried, and it was the nightmare that had kept him awake for the past week and also the fuel that had kept him searching for ways to help his friend. After the first day, Sirius had lost his temper and without thinking, tried to attack Mother – something for which he had been punished for by being forcefully knocked out and then locked out. It was a tame punishment compared to what he had attempted, probably because Walburga Black currently had a new toy to play with and very little space in the dungeons to accommodate him.

'Any progress?' A hand rested on his shoulder and squeezed tightly when Sirius shook his head. 'I've asked the kitchens to send up some tea; it will calm your nerves and clear your head.' Nothing could clear Sirius's head, not when he could hear every ounce of Remus's suffering still ringing in his ears. 'There must be some way to break in. The dungeons are a part of Grimmauld, after all, and after Father's death, you are the sole owner of the house.'

Sirius rubbed his face tiredly, grateful for Regulus's kindness. He wondered when their roles had reversed and instead of him looking out for his little brother, it was Regulus taking care of him and keeping him grounded. 'The dungeons were an addition in the late 18th century; they are an extension but not directly connected to the primary infrastructure. Also, just because I own the estate doesn't mean it cannot be kept from me. It's the same way members of the Black family that Mother deems unfit cannot see Grimmauld Place even if they are standing right in front of it. They know it's there, but until access is given, it's a hopeless cause.'

'Yet, you don't seem to have given up hope,' Regulus encouraged with a smile as he sat down in the chair next to Sirius's.

Sirius sighed. 'I can't. Not while Remus is still in there.'

'Listen, I've been speaking to Bella to get some information out of her. She's all praise about Riddle to the point that she's practically in love with him.' Sirius was unsurprised at Regulus's finding; Bellatrix Black upheld the family values better than any son Walburga had ever had. She was the pride and joy of the Black heritage, a true Black down to the very blood that flowed in her veins. 'She says his following is growing and will continue to do so as more people realise the superiority of the ancient houses. She was trying to coax me into joining as well, throwing around big names like the Lestranges and the Malfoys, but there was one that caught my attention in particular.' Regulus leaned closer as he whispered, 'Fenrir Greyback.'

Sirius felt his lip curl. 'The werewolf?' When his brother nodded, he cursed. It was certainly not a coincidence that Remus and Fenrir, both werewolves, were involved in this somehow. 'Did she mention anything about the Wolfsbane?' When the young Black shook his head, he cursed again, louder this time. Finding out exactly what the Wolfsbane did was key to this whole situation, but Sirius was running out of places to look and people to ask. 'This is just getting more and more complicated; I don't even know where this mess starts and where it ends.'

'I could-'

'No,' Sirius said firmly, already knowing what Regulus was going to say.

'If I was on the inside, then-'

'I said no, Regulus,' Sirius barked, one hand slamming the table as his grey eyes darkened with anger. 'You will not join this ridiculous cult, no matter what your intentions. I have told you again and again, not to get involved in things that make you a direct target for harm!' He ran both hands through his hair, his mind reeling with questions and ideas, but none of them shedding any light to what was going on. 'It doesn't matter, anyway,' he shook his head. 'It doesn't matter what they want and what they're planning – werewolves and Purebloods - fuck it all. My only priority right now is Remus. I need to get him out Regulus. It's been a week; I can't take it anymore. I-' Sirius's mouth snapped shut when he noticed one of their house elves standing at the door with a tray full of tea and biscuits, staring at them with wide green eyes.

'Tiffy can help, Master Sirius,' she squeaked, her heavily bandaged fingers tightening. She was wearing old rags again; nothing like the sort of clothes Remus had insisted she wear during her brief service at the Lupin home. Sirius had entirely forgotten about her, but she would have probably been caught in the crossfire when Remus was captured. He now felt sorry for her; given the elf''s state, she had probably been punished for her allegiance through no fault of her own.

'Regulus, I thought I told you to make sure this room was secure!' Sirius growled, rushing to the door and checking the impenetrable and locking charms.

'Tiffy wants to help Master Remus!' The elf insisted and Sirius, for the second time, was astounded by her forwardness and the manner in which she spoke to them in a raised voice – a sure product of Remus's indulgence.

'Tiffy, you realise you can get into a lot of trouble for speaking to me like this,' Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Impertinence is not easily tolerated in this house, much less treason.'

'Sirius!' Regulus chastised, but did not protest any further when Sirius held his hand up.

The elf wavered only slightly, but held her ground. 'Please, my Master Remus is weak. He is not eating any food Tiffy is bringing him.' She scurried up to Sirius, her large eyes too big for her face as they gazed at him imploringly.

Sirius's eyes widened. 'You have access to the dungeons?' Taking the elf much more seriously now, he kneeled so that they were at eye level and held Tiffy by the shoulders. 'You've seen Remus? You can get to him?'

The elf nodded vigorously. 'Tiffy is begging for permission from Kreacher to bring Master Remus food. Mistress is commanding that Master Remus cannot be dying.'

Sirius exchanged a frantic look with Regulus before looking back at her. 'Tiffy, can you take me inside?'

Tifft shook her head, making the bubble of hope that had chanced upon Sirius's lungs deflate quickly. 'Tiffy can be bringing Master Remus out, but only being as far as Grimmauld Place. No house elf can be leaving the premises without Mistress's permission.'

'Sirius,' Regulus's voice held excitement as he gripped his older brother's shoulder, the gravity of Tiffy's proposal sinking in. 'Do you understand what this means? If Tiffy can get him out of the dungeons, you can get him out of here by tonight! It's just a matter of waiting for Mother to fall asleep and then leaving.'

Sirius doubted it was as uncomplicated as that, but just the prospect of hope made his skin thrum with urgency. 'If we want to leave unseen, we need to be invisible…'

'That Dementor is going to start wailing the minute Remus disapparates with Tiffy. I'm not sure if there will be any other alarms, but I wouldn't put it past Mother.' Sirius held his younger brother's shoulders tightly, his fingers clenching with anxiety. 'Tiffy and I are going to give you a head start of fifteen minutes. Once you're done with all the silencing spells, I want you to take that Sleeping Draught and pretend you weren't involved in any of this in the morning. Am I clear?' He waited for Regulus to nod before shooting him a nervous smile. 'Don't worry. I've arranged everything in such a way that she can't trace anything back to you. Whatever the consequences, it will be on my head, I promise.'

'That isn't very reassuring,' Regulus replied frowning.

Sirius grinned widely for his brother, appearing more confident than he felt. 'What's the worst she can do?'

He was about to let go, when Regulus grabbed both his hands tightly. 'It hasn't changed, you know.' Sirius looked at him quizzically. 'My worst fear – my boggart – it hasn't changed. I'm still afraid I'm going to lose you.'

Sirius laughed and ruffled the boy's hair, trying to mask the fact that he was both embarrassed and secretly pleased. 'Come now, don't get all sentimental on me. We need to get to work.'

'Sirius,' Regulus's tone was hard and his hands refused to let go. 'I've wanted to tell you this for a long time: thank you. Thank you for staying that night.' By the look in his eyes, Sirius knew his brother was speaking of the night he had found him in the dungeons with the boggart. 'I know you had plans to leave Grimmauld, but you sacrificed your own happiness for me and I've been so selfish about it. I never felt guilty about making you stay and I never considered how you felt.' He took a deep breath, steeling himself before speaking. 'But I'm not that little boy trapped in the dungeons anymore and I don't need you to take care of me.' His fingers tightened and his eyes took on a deeper shade of grey. 'Leave. And don't come back. Ever.'

Sirius's eyes widened. 'Reggie, you-.'

'Please,' Regulus cut off his protest. 'Leave and I will join you one day, I promise,' he assured, 'but not now. I still need to finish school and someone needs to hold the fort when things come crashing down.' He pulled Sirius into a firm hug and Sirius was hit with the realisation of how tall his brother had gotten – they were nearly the same height now. 'Good luck,' Regulus wished softly before pushing Sirius away with a brotherly shove, 'and I hope that you can finally be happy.'

'Thank you,' Sirius kissed his brother on his forehead, before nodding to the house elf, who was patiently standing at the door for directions.

On Sirius's go ahead, Tiffy disapparated and Regulus left with a final nod. Sirius himself took his position near the front door of Grimmauld Place, praying that no one would wake up in the middle of the night for any ungodly reason. What was only a fifteen minute wait, felt like hours, the whole house slowly becoming encompassed in eerie silence as all of Regulus's silencing charms set into place one by one. The quiet was unsettling and it made the hairs on the back of Sirius's neck stand up and his senses heighten as he waited for Tiffy to arrive. His palms were sweating and he kept his hand occupied with the shrunken trunk that he had packed for the both of them in pocket. When twenty minutes had passed, Sirius started to worry that Tiffy had been hit by a ward or charm that they hadn't anticipated – something her magic could not fight off and something he could not detect because of the silencing spells placed everywhere. He twisted his black hair between his fingers and paced, wondering if he should somehow try to get into the dungeons after all. A part of him also wanted to check on his brother to make sure he was asleep and out of harm's way. Just when Sirius was about to give up hope, the silence around him was interrupted by a loud crack that had him jumping out of his skin.

Tiffy had apparated right in front of him, both her bony hands holding on to an unconscious Remus's arm. He looked peaceful this way; almost as if he were sleeping and for a moment, Sirius could do nothing but stare at him, completely immobile. Shakily, he knelt down beside the werewolf and touched his cheek softly with the back of his hand, goose bumps rising to his skin from the cold. He was truly beautiful in every way, even like this, with his grime covered sandy hair spilling over his face and the floor, his lips cracked and bleeding, and his skin pale as snow.

'Master Sirius, we must hurry.'

Sirius snapped out of his daze. 'Yes, of course. I'm sorry.' He turned Remus on his back fully, tucking one hand under the werewolf's knees and the other under his shoulders before lifting him into his arms. He tucked Remus's body to his chest, extra careful of the boy's hands which had been burned black and were peeling. 'Tiffy, the invisibility cloak is in my pocket.' He waited for the elf to unfold the silvery cloak and spread it over them before standing up to full height. Remus felt like dead weight in his arms, but he bore it with all the strength he had, keeping the boy so close to his chest that he could feel his breath against his neck. It was comfortingly steady and giving in to the relief he felt, Sirius pressed a kiss to the werewolf's forehead, before leaving Grimmauld Place forever. 'Thank you, Tiffy.'

After that, everything was a blur where Sirius moved solely on adrenaline. Their exit from the house was almost anticlimactic, with Sirius simply walking out of the house with Remus in his arms while the house elf stood guard. It was too late at night for anyone to suspect foul play, but Sirius had no doubt that Regulus's silencing spells would weaken eventually and the Dementor's haunting wail would sound through the house. Mother would follow soon after. He walked as far as possible from the house, well beyond their wards and to a distance Sirius felt comfortable with, before apparating into Godric's Hollow. By then, his arms were nearly numb from carrying Remus and the strength he had gained from his adrenaline rush dissipated upon looking at his old friend's face after two years.

'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good,' James greeted him, standing at the door, his hazel eyes guarded and older than Sirius ever remembered seeing.

'Mischief managed,' Sirius panted, relived when James's face broke into a smile and he moved aside to let Sirius pass. 'Thank you for this, James,' he breathed, walking in, every step laboured. 'I know we haven't spoken in a while…well, I cut myself off, but I didn't know who else to ask. Guess, you're still my only friend.'

James laughed, locking the front door and resetting the wards. 'I meant what I said on our graduation day, Sirius. If you ever decided that you had had enough and you wanted a different home, mine is always open to you.' He clapped Sirius on the back. 'You know well that I will always help, no questions asked. I'm just glad you've finally decided to leave.'

Sirius nodded, navigating himself through the dimly lit living room and putting Remus down gently on the sofa. 'I finally found my reason to.' He brushed back sandy blonde hair lovingly.

James, who had been turning on a few more lamps, froze. 'Is this-' he looked down at Remus, his hazel eyes wide. He kneeled down to get a closer look at the werewolf, his hands hovering just above as if unsure about touching. 'Sirius, you told me you were helping a friend who was in trouble with your family. Is this him?' Sirius hadn't told James any of the details, unsure of how much he could reveal. 'Is this him, Sirius?' James asked again, swallowing thickly when Sirius nodded. 'Blimey!' he exclaimed, running his hand through the back of his hair just as he did in their school days when he was agitated. 'Lily!' he screamed in a shaky voice, his head turning towards the stairs. 'Lily, Floo Dumbledore now! Tell him we've found Remus Lupin!'

A/N: Slipped in a little bit of Regulus possible becoming a Death Eater in there. You know, because I'm all about canon. :p

PLEASE REVIEW!

Ali baba: Your wish is my command. Hope this was enough! :D

Guest: Technically, this should have been a response in my previous chapter but I got overexcited about posting and was a little behind on my replies. You can remove you palm from your face now. Sirius has finally done something right. :p

Grace: I hope your flu is all better now and that you enjoyed this chapter even with all that medication addling your brain. Lol.

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