Disclaimer: In case you weren't sure, I don't own Remus, Sirius, Lily, James, the ministry of magic, the condition of lycanthropy, or the Harry Potter universe in general. I do own Mum Lupin, the rest of the Lupin clan, and various other original characters throughout.

Warnings: Adult situations, graphic violence, nudity, slash.

Balkeirv

Chapter Three: Something Old, Something New

By: Irish

This place was called a "Werewolf Rehabilitation Habitat", a 1984-esq trick that made it sound like one of those classy places muggles went to stop drinking or doing crank. Remus hadn't been fooled though. As a rule of thumb, the nicer the ministry made something sound, the worse it would probably be. Still, he wasn't prepared at all for the sight that greeted him through the slit of a window in the back door of the prison wagon he'd been flung into. He wasn't even sure where they were, geographically. He'd been in this dank box, rattling around like a single pea in a can for many hours now.

The trial had been forty minutes of unadulterated, grade-a ministry bullshit. Remus had mucked a few hippogriff stalls in his time, and he'd never seen so much shit. He had been given no solicitor, which aside from the principle of the thing, he hadn't minded. Whatever blowhard they would give him would probably be less versed in the law than he was, anyway. Lily, James, Sirius, Peter and his mother had all sat in a stiff, pale white row on the front bench. The charges had been read against him, ranging from the catchall werewolf crime that pretty much every lycanthrope who'd made it through puberty was guilt of, exchanging bodily fluids with a non-infected human. That included spit and sweat. All the way up through high treason. Reading the charges alone had taken ten minutes. There had been forty. After that, Remus had entered his plea of not guilty, and an officer of the court had given him the potion of diluted vertiserum. It wasn't strong enough to compel you to tell the truth, or make you chatty, like undiluted vertiserum did, but it made it impossible to lie.

The counsel had then questioned him for fifteen minutes. The questions had been very mundane, and he would have answered them truthful even without the potion. Had he ever attacked another human, had he ever worked for the ministry, in what capacity? Had he ever had sexual intercourse? With whom? That had almost been fun to answer, since two of them were men, and the other was Lily Potter. That had clearly been unexpected. It was old news among the Marauders, they'd been each other's firsts, they'd managed exactly once, then realized that their love was more that of siblings.

After the questioning, Remus had been allowed to give a short speech, which he did, arguing that although he admitted he had done all that he'd been accused, he was not guilty because the laws were unfair and unjust. Of course no one had cared what he'd had to say on the matter, and most of the counsel had made grand show of being board. The second he'd stopped speaking, he'd been pronounced guilty on twenty of the counts against him, most of them moderate to minor. That had been better than he'd expected. He'd been given a sentence of five years, eligible for parole after two. He had stopped listening at that, turning back to his friends and kin, to say his goodbyes before he was hauled away, but what was said next had given him pause (not paws, he already had those). He had expected to serve his sentence in Azkaban, but instead he'd been sentenced to this "werewolf rehabilitation habitat."

He'd been allowed the small mercy of saying good-bye to everyone, though he'd been heavily shackled and able to do little more than lean into the hugs they'd given him. Sirius had kissed him long and hard, which had brought tears to his eyes. After just a few moments, though, they'd dragged him off.

He'd been side-along aparated by Boggs after the trial to some place he had never been before, and been promptly thrown in this wagon. They had gone through a few small village but no major cities, and all that he could see most of the time was the gravel road they were on and huge coniferous trees. Now though, they'd gone through a gate.

It wasn't until they'd passed through the gate and had moved well past it that Remus had the reality of his situation brought home to him. The fence was easily ten feet high. It was merely chain link, but at the top was razor wire. A wizard with a wand would have laughed at such a trivial barrier, but Remus was not a wizard with a wand. He was a dark creature with a contagious disease. As they moved further onto the grounds of whatever this place was, Remus saw that the road on this side of the gate also had chain link on either side, topped by razor wire.

A head of them, he heard another gate open. It sounded heavy. Remus waited nervously, forehead pressed against the door so he could see out the narrow slow, to see what kind of gate they had passed through now.

The gate itself was metal and rusted, but the walls that held it were brick. Remus was able to catch a glimpse of the thickness of the walls as the gate was pushed shut by some kind of guard. It looked to be at least three layers of brick thick, and Remus swallowed. The tough attitude he'd managed to maintain throughout his already long ordeal was eroding quickly. A jack-of-all-trades, prior to this moment, Remus would have thought that there were very few situations in life that he would be helpless against. Apparently a very large wall had never occurred to him.

Something slammed against the door of the prison wagon, very near where his face was, and Remus leapt back, startled.

"Dvinooto protii ctyen!" One of the guards barked. Remus shook his head slightly, having no idea what was being said, but took a few steps backwards. He didn't want to be in arms reach when that door opened. Whatever the guard wanted seemed to be satisfied because in the next moment the door was thrown open and two guards stood glaring at him. One of the men barked at him again sharply in a language he still didn't understand.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand…" Remus said, shaking his head. He held his hands up, palms facing the guards in a gesture of peace and surrender. He had no interest in taking on these two men, both of which probably outweighed him by fifty pounds and had wands.

"Nyeh dvin'te!"

He cocked his head trying to puzzle out what language they were speaking. It sounded Slavic, Russian probably. He wondered if they didn't speak English or were intentionally refusing to use it. "Je ne comprends pas." Remus tried.

"Cidityeh!"

"I guess that's a no—" Before Remus could finish the sentence, one of the guards lashed out with a long white pole, jabbing Remus hard in the stomach. He doubled over, dropping to his knees with a grunt. The moment his head was bowed he felt something slip around his neck and draw tight. By the time he brought his hands up to his neck, he was being jerked forwards out of the truck. He didn't have a chance to get his feet under him, and landed on the gravel of the road on all fours, coughing. The loop around his neck loosened a little, and Remus was able to gather his wits.

He was been held several feet away from the guard with the same kind of device that dogcatchers used on dogs. A long pole with a loop at the ended that could be loosened and tightened. He couldn't get any closer to them, had he wanted to attack, because of the pole.

Remus felt his ears heat with humiliation. He was not an animal! "I would have gotten out if you told me to. I'm not going to attack you," Remus said wearily. All he got in response was a jerk from the man holding the pole.

"Sto'te," the guard commanded, his expression having no hint of comprehension at Remus's words. The werewolf managed to stagger to his feet, stumbling along a large open area just inside the gate. He couldn't get much of a bearing on where he was, because every time he tried to turn his head, his handler seemed to take it as a sign of aggression and the loop around his neck was jerked.

The propelled him to sort of a log cabin, the only structure in his line of sight. The door opened a moment before he was almost forced into it face first, and he stumbled into what looked like an office. There wasn't a whole lot in it, a desk, filing cabinets and the like. There was one chair, in the middle of the room, with a high back and arms, though it wasn't at all padded. With some deft maneuvering by the guard holding the poll, he was forced to sit in the chair. Someone muttered something, and Remus felt the tingle of a spell against his skin, before he found his arms forced against the arms of the chair, his legs against the legs, and his head tight against the back. Leather restraints fastened themselves around each limb and around his neck and the guards left him without another word.

Remus looked around as much as he could, held in place by the collar around his throat, fastened to the chair, looking for a clue as to where he was, whom he was waiting for, anything. He tested the sturdiness of the chair a bit and founded that it was bolted to the floor and all the joints were tight. With a sigh, he resigned himself to waiting.

After a short eternity, the door behind him opened and shut again, and Remus could hear the slow pace of hard-soled boots on the wooden floor. His nose caught a familiar scent on the in draft and he frowned.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Despite his restraints, Remus tried to whip his head around, and only succeeded in choking himself. He knew that voice immediately, though. "Severus," he hissed.

"Surprised to see me?" Severus murmured, as he took his time moving around Remus, into his line of sight. "You shouldn't be. After all, I have you to thank for this position," his pleased expression turned into a snarl. "How do you manage to continue to ruin my life, Lupin!"

"Considering the current seating arrangements, I think it's arguable who is ruining whose life," Remus replied, warily watching the other man. During their Hogwarts years, Remus had considered Severus neither friend nor foe, and mostly a dangerous variable. He had long recognized Severus's hatred of James and Sirius for what it really was, unbridled jealousy. Remus could relate to that, having tagged in their shadow for many years, to this day, in fact. Remus had been able to coax Severus into very occasional alliances, as long as it was just between him and Severus, and sometimes Lily.

"You cannot imagine the depth of pleasure I am experiencing at this moment, Lupin. If you had only known that someday I would exact revenge for every one of my hurts in pounds of flesh from your pathetic hide… I think things would have gone much differently," Severus spoke softly, almost as one would speak to a lover, and Remus could see a mix of emotions in Severus's eyes that hovered just on this side of sanity.

"Yeah I get it, you're creaming your jeans at the idea of torturing me. You're a sick fuck, you know that?"

No sooner had Remus finished speaking then Severus lashed out, backhanding him brutally, splitting Remus's lip and cracking the back of his head against the chair. Remus only grinned in response.

"You should show more respect for me, Lupin. I am a very angry man and I am now your master. I hold the power of life and death over you. You only have Sirius to blame for this you know. If he had never tempted me to the Shrieking Shack that night, I would have never devoted so much of my time to understanding the lycanthropic infection. And had I not done that, the Dark Lord wouldn't have put me in charge of this… place." Severus finished his diatribe rather lamely. Remus could read his tone though, and that combined with his earlier words said he felt his current position was no honor.

"I'm no respecter of persons, Severus, and I have no master," Remus replied, though his tone was more cautious now. Despite his occasional and tentative alliances with Severus, he'd suffered far more from the boy (now man) than James or Sirius ever had, because they had been all but untouchable. Remus though, the sidekick, had been easily within his reach.

"Oh you do now, Lupin, you do now," Severus's voice was dangerously low, and he watched Remus a moment with dark, brooding eyes. After a moment, he shook himself out of his reverie though, and continued at a much more brisk, almost congenial tone.

"This place you are at is called Balkeirv. I have no idea what it means," Severus shrugged. "As far as I can tell, it is nonsense. You're currently in Siberia. The ministry calls this place, as you know, a Rehabilitation Habitat. There are a few other Brits, Scots and Irish here, most are Slavic though, so I recommend you learn Russian quickly,"

Severus paced a bit as he gave his speech, and Remus followed him with his eyes, wondering if this was a script that every new inmate got or if Severus was being kind enough to provide him with a little extra information.

"You will not be completely marked until after your first change, this is in order to be sure that you are not falsely accused. Since I know that isn't the case, it seems a waste of time, but, most the guards here are rather simple creatures and it would take me most of the afternoon to change things up just for your sake."

"Yes, I'd hate to inconvenience you," Remus nodded, as much as he could with how restrained he was.

"Indeed. Well, Lupin, you should feel honored, very few of the guests here are ever graced with my company, and none of them on the first day. When I heard it was you though, I thought I'd extend my courtesy for old times sake," the wicked grin that followed this statement did nothing to alleviate Remus's ever-compounding anxiety. "You see Lupin, I've been ordered to invent a couple different potions. I assume I don't need to tell you for whom. This place is a source of endless guinea pigs for me. And you have just become my favorite."

Remus swallowed hard, rendered mute from fear, and from a deep sense of pity and loss. Severus may have not been his friend, but Remus had always tried to think the best of him. Unfortunately, it seemed that had been misplaced.

"Now, the guards will take you and delouse you and what not, do enjoy." With a cold smile, Severus walked out of his line of vision once more, and called out the door, in Russian, for the guards to take him away.

Author's Note: Surprise! Here's Snapey! Okay, okay, for those of you who like Snape, relax, just keep in mind that I like him very much too. Additionally, I wasn't sure how to make it clear without adding even more exposition into this heavily expositional chapter: the ministry thinks it runs Balkeriv, but Voldemort has infiltrated there, hence Snape. Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon, but I won't make promises, because I'm rarely able to keep them when it comes to writing. Thank you to all of you who have taken a chance and read this story. Thank you for all your reviews, it really makes me want to make sure you enjoy what I'm writing 