Remus and Sirius had been hiding in the cargo hold of the transport freighter for a week and keeping entertained was proving a struggle. It was easy enough to steal a bit of food here and there from the cargo and also to sneak off to bathrooms but finding ways to pass the time was more difficult.
They talked for hours at a time about the old days and imagining what James and Lily would think about everything that was going on now. They both agreed that they would be proud of Harry and Sirius insisted that James would've put an end to Snape long before he could've killed Dumbledore.
And they talked about Lily at length. Sirius hated that Harry would never know Lily because everyone loved her and in the her short rule as Queen she was much loved by her people and she had plans to really turn around the entire UTP and push it towards a more democratic government (though one with a royal figurehead for the time being.) She was infinitely kind and had a knack for always seeing the best in people. Sirius thought he could see more of Lily in Harry than James even if he resembled James greatly.
They even shagged a few times but they tried to be careful not to make much noise. If Dumbledore hadn't been killed they would've had the benefit of his network to keep them protected but without him they were all on their own and Remus didn't fancy getting caught with his cock up Sirius's arse.
The trip out to the last station near the edge went on for several weeks. The supplies on this freighter would be used to supply several small planets nearby as well the station itself. It was a region of space known as Diagon Alley. Remus's hope was that once on the station they'd be able to bribe someone to take them to the planet of the virus's origin.
After nearly a month of travel they arrived at the station, known by the designation L.K.Y. C.L.D.R.N. but everyone called it Leaky. After getting this far undetected it was no problem getting off the transport also undetected.
The station was surprisingly filled with people despite how far out it was. It took hours but they finally found an individual named Stan Shunpike who called himself the conductor of something called the Knight Bus.
It was apparently normally a transport designed to pick up people who had gotten themselves stranded on alien planets and by some miracle they had once picked someone up from the planet they sought though Stan Shunpike didn't know it's name or if it even had one. He did however have a name for those infected by the virus: werewolves. Though the condition itself was called lycanthropy.
Getting Stan Shunpike to agree to take them there wasn't cheap but Sirius had plenty of credits in his account. The Knight Bus was fast and it didn't take any longer than a day to arrive at the planet which looked nothing like what Remus expected.
The werewolf planet was a giant forest that stayed green all year round. Remus had expected some place dark and desolate, not somewhere filled with life and moss and rain year round. Landing on the planet in the day with a light rain falling was a far different experience than he expected.
The Knight Bus left them at a spot near a village of those infected, werewolves that is, leaving them to venture into the village and ask about the cure alone.
The village itself reminded Remus a lot of the villages on Fidelius, though the people seemed less friendly. And from a distance Remus could see that they were human and spoke the common language. Remus decided to venture into the village by himself just to be safe. He couldn't risk any danger to Padfoot.
He decided to talk to a red-haired woman who was chopping wood. He approached as casually as he could but he knew that his clothes would be an immediate giveaway that he was an outsider.
"Hello," Remus said.
"Yeah?" the woman said, clearly suspicious.
"My name is Remus Lupin. I had a question," he said while she stared at him.
"Okay, Remus Lupin, what is your question?" she said, only sounding slightly more friendly.
"Well, you see, I'm a werewolf," he said. She raised her eyebrows then threw her head back laughing.
"Oh hey everyone! This man's a werewolf!" she said, pointing and laughing at him in mockery. Remus could tell this wasn't going to be easy.
"I've… I've heard there might be a cure… for our condition and that it might be here," Remus said.
"Aye," she said. "There is a cure. Well, they say there is anyhow. Man comes here every other morning looking for volunteers to test the cure. Sometimes the volunteers even come back. The others the man says required further testing," the woman said. This fact worried Remus but he decided to press on.
"But the ones that do come back?" he asked.
"Cured," she said. "They never transform again. One girl even got herself bit again but she's immune now, you see. Can't get infected again." Remus tried not to show his joy at this information but he nearly couldn't help himself. It was real! The cure existed!
"These volunteers… How are they selected?" Remus asked.
The woman shrugged. "Random, I suppose. Even knowing there's a cure, frankly, the man that comes round scares folks. Big scary bloke with grey hair that's all a mess. Nasty long yellow nails," she said with a disgusted look on her face.
Remus got a grim look on his face and said, "My lover and I would like to meet this man if we could. When will he be back?"
"Tomorrow."
"And what is his name?"
"Fenrir Greyback, he calls himself," she answered. The name chilled Remus, though he didn't understand why. In any event, they came this far and they owed it to themselves and to Dumbledore to do whatever it took to find the cure.
Remus said farewell to the woman whose name he never received and went out of the village to retrieve Padfoot and bring him back into the village. He had managed to find a small hut they could rent for the night for what little coinage he had with him. The man he rented it from warned that they were responsible for themselves and when Remus asked if there was a full moon tonight he said that there wasn't which was a relief.
Once inside the hut they quickly relaxed on one of the only pieces of furniture that was provided: the bed. In no time at all they were naked and tangled up in each others bodies in a state of pleasurable euphoria. Afterwards they both passed out even though it wasn't night yet.
But just after night fall Remus awoke with a familiar feeling. He could feel a transformation coming on and terror went through his body.
"Padfoot, wake up!" he said and went over and shook Sirius awake.
"Hmm?" Sirius said.
"Merlin dammit, I'm about to fucking change! You have to get out of the hut immediately!" Remus said. Sirius jolted and fumbled out of bed quickly desperately grabbing at his clothes and trying to put them on as fast as he could. Sirius then ran to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge.
"Fuck!" Sirius said. "Moony, it's fucking locked from the outside. They locked us in! Bloody bastards!"
Remus knew he had little time before he fully transformed and he had to find a way to keep Sirius safe.
"Of course they have. They probably assumed we were both infected. I bet it's the norm here for everyone to lock themselves up so they don't get lost in the woods." Remus groaned in pain. Not much more time left, he thought.
"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked.
"Lock me in the bathroom. Just prop this old chair under the the handle and fucking hope I don't break down the door. Stay under the bed until morning," Remus said and went inside the bathroom. He shut the door and heard Sirius carrying out his request. He doubted the door would hold and as he transformed all he could think was how he would hate himself if he hurt Padfoot.
The next thing Remus knew it was morning. He could tell by the birds chirping outside and the sunlight pouring in from the small window in the corner of the room. To his horror he realized he was no longer in the bathroom anymore.
The bathroom door and the chair had been completely torn to pieces. He was in the living room and he didn't see Sirius anywhere. He did see streaks of blood here and there but he hoped it was his own from cuts he had likely got from breaking the door.
"Padfoot?" Remus called out. There was no answer.
"Sirius?" he added.
"Yes?" a voice from under the bed replied, startling him.
"Merlin's beard, Padfoot," Remus said and Sirius squeezed out from the under the bed.
"Are you shocked then I did as you asked?" Sirius asked as he pulled Remus up to his feet. Remus went into the bathroom to run a bath. Internally he was questioning the logic of not building these huts to be more werewolf proof but he wonder if perhaps growing up in these environments didn't have an affect on the wolves.
"No. I just worried that I had hurt you," Remus said.
"Don't you think you'd notice a body?" Sirius said. Remus shrugged. Moments later the bath was filled and he got in. After his bath was done he put his clothes back on and contemplated how they were going to pay for the damage to the hut. But then there was a knock to the door.
Sirius answered the door and a tall brutish looking man entered. Remus realized this was Fenrir Greyback, who would hopefully guide them to the cure.
"Hello," Remus said extending a hand to Greyback. Greyback declined to shake it.
"Heard you were looking to volunteer to help test the cure," Greyback said.
"We would like to see it if we could. I'm the only one infected, however. But I would prefer if my lover came with us. I'm a bit attached to him, you see," Remus said. Greyback looked at Sirius and sneered but then nodded in approval at Remus.
"Okay. Well, when do we leave?" Remus asked.
"Now," Greyback said and gestured with his arm out the front door.
"Ready Padfoot?" Remus asked.
"Always," Sirius said smiling but Remus couldn't mirror Sirius's smile. He had a bad feeling. Really bad.