Chapter Eight is finally here! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I love you all for it. I love hearing what you think, it inspires me to keep going.

CHAPTER WARNINGS: slash, minor violence, language (maybe?)

I hope you all like it! It's short, and it's not exactly what I wanted, but I figured I'd post it anyway so you guys could read it.

Sirius yawned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his burning eyes. It was almost four thirty a.m. Remus would be human any minute now, and Sirius had been hoping to get home to be there when Remus woke up. He felt sick at the thought of Remus waking up bruised, bleeding, and alone on their freezing basement floor, just like he had when he lived with his father.

The group of death Eaters was still at Malfoy's. Moody had sent Gregson out to check on the house to see if they were actually there or if it was a glitch, and he had returned in a few minutes confirming that there was a large crowd of supposed Death Eaters at Malfoy's house.

They still hadn't moved.

"What the hell are they doing?" Sirius groaned, leaning forward and burying his face in his hands. "Moody, this is ridiculous!"

Moody grumbled incomprehensibly and ignored Sirius's complaints, his eye fixed on the map.

Sirius rolled his neck and stared up at the ceiling, letting his eyes fall closed for a few moments. He didn't realize he was drifting off until Kingsley's deep voice made him jump a little bit in his increasingly uncomfortable chair. "They're moving."

Sirius leapt to his feet and moved to the front of the room, joining the rest of the small band of Aurors who had been watching this stupid parchment all night. The cluster of black dots was gone from Malfoy Manor.

"Where did they go?" Gregson studied the map carefully, looking for the reappearance of the group of dots.

Sirius shook his head and rubbed his eyes. God, he was tired. "Did they Apparate? Someone get a hold of the Portkey and the Apparition departments and find out how they moved and where!"

Two Aurors scuttled off to do as Sirius instructed.

"Everyone else, get ready," Moody instructed gruffly. "When we find them, we're going to break this up."

Sirius turned to his desk to get his magically shrunken supply bag and shove it into his pocket with his wand. He took a swig of the fresh tea in his mug and blinked, trying to wake himself up a little bit.

One of the Aurors who had run out to the Apparition or the Portkey department rushed back in and shoved a paper at Moody. "This is what they Apparition reports say about Malfoy and the rest of them."

Moody's magical eye scanned the paper and his real one fell on Sirius. Sirius felt Moody looking at him with his real eye instead of the freaky glass one, and his stomach dropped. That couldn't be a good sign. "Black, take a look at this."

Sirius approached Moody and took the paper Moody was holding out to him. He read the report, the list of names, the place they'd left...
His gaze froze on the address next to the bold words "Site of arrival:"

"Oh my God," he breathed. "Remus and Harry..."

Remus's eyes flickered open and he groaned, curling into a ball and twisting his hands in his thick hair, pulling at it until it hurt in an effort to distract himself from the pain throbbing through the rest of his battered and torn body. He took a few deep breaths and pushed himself up onto his elbows to take an inventory of his injuries. He winced and looked down at himself. His chest and legs were covered in long scratches and oozing bite marks. His ankles and wrists were torn and bloody; the wolf must have gnawed on them last night when he was too tired to throw himself around the room anymore.

Nothing seemed broken, he noted with mild pleasure as he shifted different parts of his body. He closed his eyes for a few moments and listened to himself breathe for a few minutes. When he had gained some control over his pain, he pushed himself to his feet. He swayed and caught himself on the wall, cringing. The raw wounds on his limbs hurt like hell. He hoped they hadn't gotten infected from lying on the filth of the cement floor.

He pried the cinder block from the wall and dropped it to the floor. It landed with a loud crack, but he couldn't bring himself to care; he'd come replace it later. He honestly didn't think he had the strength in his trembling body to lift it and put it back. He pulled out his clothes and tugged on his jeans carefully. He tugged his sweater over his head, wincing as the thick yarn brushed against his wounds. He wasn't sure if Harry would be awake, or if Romulus would be around, so he figured better safe than sorry. He'd intentionally work his old, stained jeans and a loose, paint-splatted sweater so it wouldn't matter if they got blood on them.

He was about to stick his wand in his pocket when the door to the cellar burst open. Remus turned around, squinting in to the sudden blinding light pouring in from outside, thinking Sirius had finally made it home.

By the time he realized who it was, they'd disarmed him.

Rockwood smiled at him and stuck Remus's wand in his back pocket. "Morning, Remus."

"Morning," Remus replied warily, his eye flickering around the room for another exit he knew wasn't there, and backing into the far wall. There was no other way out of the basement. Snape was standing in front of the door, and he didn't look like he was there to help if the way his wand was trained on Remus's chest was any indication. "Can I help you two?"

"You can, actually," Rockwood's grin widened and he stepped closer to Remus. Remus snarled and pressed himself against the concrete, wanting to keep as much distance between himself and the Death Eater as possible. "Lucius figured you'd want to be there to see what your brother had done for you."

Remus cursed under his breath and rubbed his face frustratedly. Romulus. Of course. Sirius was right; Romulus had lied and manipulated and played on Remus's stupid insecurities about their relationship, all while he was planning to betray him the whole time.

A Death Eater.

Remus had always refused to believe it.

Stupid.

"C'mon, Severus," Rockwood motioned sharply to Snape. "Tie him up and let's get going."

Thin cords appeared out of the air and wrapped themselves around Remus's shredded wrists. He gasped softly at the feeling of the rope rubbing around inside his aggravated wounds and his knees gave out. He would have fallen if not for Snape's hands pulling him back up to his feet. He reeled and fell against Snape's chest, his vision burring and fading in and out of black. He vaguely felt Snape's hand ghost over the back pocket of his jeans and he flinched, unsure of if it had been intentional or an accident.

Snape helped him straighten up and prodded him surprisingly gently in the direction of the open door. His lip curled with disgust when Remus stumbled, his footing uncertain. "Move it, werewolf."

"Where...Harry?" Remus asked, suddenly stopping and turning to grip the front of Snape's robes desperately. "Severus, please, where's Harry?"

"He's fine," Snape replied stoically, untangling the werewolf's hands from his dark robes and shoving him forward. "For now."

Remus allowed himself to be half-dragged through the backyard and in the direction of James and Lily's graves. He swallowed hard and nodded to himself slowly as he was forced towards the small clearing in the trees. The only way they could have gotten on the property was if Harry's parents' bodies had been removed from the grounds.

Snape kept a tight grip on Remus's upper arm and yanked him into the clearing. Remus's eyes immediately went to Harry's small form curled up in the wet grass. He was stirring a little bit, obviously having been knocked unconscious (not doubt by Romulus). His wrists and ankles were bound tightly. The sight of the ropes sparked an even more vicious anger in Remus's chest and he growled lowly.

Snape pushed him to his knees. He landed hard on the wet grass, almost over balancing and landing on his face in the dirt, but managing to get his balance back at the last second. He took a moment to look around the clearing and evaluate the situation. Lily's and James's graves were dug up and empty. Romulus was standing closest to Harry, determinedly avoiding meeting Remus's gaze. There was a good number of other Death Eater Remus remembered all too well from the War gathered around the graves, their eyes flickering from him, to Harry, to Lucius Malfoy where he stood a few feet away from Remus.

"So glad you could join us," Malfoy grinned darkly at Remus, tilting his head as he examined the werewolf. "Pity my friends didn't get to you before you got dressed. Severus would have loved that."

Snape's expression remained uninterested, but a faint trace of red appeared on the back of his neck.

"Whatever you're planning will never work," Remus said steadily, aware that his voice was hoarse and breaking. He cleared his throat and swallowed painfully, his torn throat protesting the action.

"You think Black will ride in and save you like he did when we were at school?" Malfoy laughed cruelly. "He can't get in here, and neither can any of his Auror buddies. We worked on fixing those wards and adjusting them to fit our purposes while you were...indisposed."

Remus shook his head, ignoring the way it made his vision spin, and kept his eyes on Harry. "I think you misunderstood me. What you're planning will never work because I will not let you hurt him."

"Remus..?" Harry tried to sit up, sounding groggy and confused. "Where..?"

Malfoy's eyes glinted as he looked at Remus, ignoring Harry completely. He reached out and took Remus's chin in his hand, forcing the younger man to look up at him. Remus tried to jerk his face out of Malfoy's grip, but Malfoy's fingers tightened on his chin and held his head in place with a bruising grip. Malfoy smiled lazily, amused when Remus's hazel gaze determinedly met his own through a mess of tangled honey colored bangs. "And what's a pretty little defenseless thing like you going to do to stop me?"

"Someone's redone the wards," Sirius snapped, rubbing his shoulder as he stormed back towards the knot of Aurors in the meadow outside the cottage wards. "They won't let me in."

"Is there another way through?" Moody's magical eye darted around his skull as he took in the damp meadow and thick forest that surrounded Sirius and Remus's home. The other Aurors were working on spreading around outside the perimeter of the wards, wands raised uselessly.

Sirius shook his head and scrubbed his mouth with his hand worriedly. "The fireplace is sealed. There's no other way in unless we can break the wards."

"How strong are they?" Moody asked, crossing his arms and glaring at the place the wards began as if he could burn through them with his good eye.

Sirius ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the dark locks in frustration. Sirius could feel Remus's panic through their bond; it was thrumming through his chest, making his heart beat slightly faster. The bind only ever acted up if one of them forced it to or if one of them was in severe danger. Sirius forcibly pushed down his own fear and tried to focus on the situation. "I think whoever did it just modified Remus's wards so they wouldn't let me in. The base is definitely still Remus's work."

"Damn," Moody muttered softly, setting his jaw and rubbing the bridge of his gnarled nose tiredly. "That makes it more difficult."

Sirius nodded in agreement, sucking nervously on his bottom lip as his eyes flickered over the seemingly peaceful woods. Remus was exceedingly good at protective wards. He'd learned as much as he could about them during the War, and he'd quickly become the best in the Order as setting them up. There was very little chance of breaking them without his help.

"Whoever did this was smart to leave his base intact," Moody frowned, considering the wards carefully. "They must have had some idea of how good Remus was at setting them."

Sirius's stomach twisted as Moody's statement sent his mind on a panicked whirlwind of what that meant. This was obviously Romulus; Romulus had gone and screwed Remus over again. It wasn't surprising, but that didn't make it any less terrifying. A most likely exhausted and hurt Remus was trapped in there with a large group or Death Eaters, most of whom knew him personally and hated him, because his jerk of a brother had sold him out and betrayed him.

Again.

And Harry...Remus would die before he let anything happen to Harry. Sirius hoped like hell they could get into the wards before it came to that.

"No comment?" Lucius mocked lightly, tapping the tip of Remus's nose with one of his long fingers. His smirk grew when Remus flinched away from the touch, blinking hard. "I didn't think so." Lucius took a step back and looked around at the circle of Death Eaters, his pale eyes coming to a stop on Harry, who was now fully conscious and looking around with fear and confusion mingling in his bright green eyes.

Lucius advanced on Harry and grinned down at him coldly. "It's so touching, that he wants to protect you when you're not even his."

Harry glared at Malfoy angrily, but didn't give him the dignity of a response. He couldn't say he was surprised that Draco's father was a Death Eater. He'd heard the rumors. He recalled the first time he'd caught sight of Lucius Malfoy's haughty expression trained on him on the Hogwarts platform; he'd felt a chill in his bones at the cold look Malfoy had fixed on him.

"Wouldn't want to let a werewolf adopt the Boy Who Lived," Lucius taunted, sneering at Harry and rapping his side sharply with his cane. Harry was surprised by the blow, and let out an involuntary yelp. He curled up into a ball to protect himself from another hit. "If your godfather had been convicted like he should have, you'd be living with those disgusting Muggles your mudblood mother came from. Doesn't seem fair, does it? He's willing to die for you and the Ministry won't let him adopt you, but they wouldn't hesitate to put you with your Muggle aunt and uncle who would no doubt treat you like a freak."

"Don't touch him," Remus gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet, only to be shoved back down again by Rockwood. Why the hell was Malfoy talking about that? What did the Ministry refusing to let him adopt Harry have to do with anything?

Lucius turned back to Remus and a pleased grin unfurled on his lips when he saw the obvious confusion on Remus's face. "You still don't get it?" his lip curled in disgust. He shook his head and turned away, motioning to Romulus. "Hurry up, Lupin, explain it to the beast. We don't have all day."

"I don't want to hear it," Remus snapped before Romulus could begin. Romulus pursed his lips together and tried to ignore the guilt he felt spread through his chest at the look of derisive betrayal on Remus's face. "It's for my own good, right? Voldemort will treat me better than the Ministry, right? Forget it, Romulus. Just stop, just fucking stop..."

Romulus swallowed hard and tried to defend himself weakly. "Remus, it's true...I just want you to have a better..."

Remus ducked his head and snorted. Romulus slowly trailed off and bit the inside of his cheek. He could see the long, oozing gashes peeking out from the neck and sleeves of Remus's sweater and deep bite marks marring his bruised skin. Remus's wrists were a bloody mess from where the wolf had been chewing on them. The way Remus held himself so stiffly betrayed the pain and discomfort he felt, despite his best effort to keep it from showing.

"That's enough," Malfoy snapped, making Romulus tear his eyes from his baby brother's shaking form to meet Lucius's eyes. "Let's finish this. Everybody get ready to get out of here. You all know the plan, don't break formation when we leave, don't let your guard down until we meet back at Headquarters."

The Death Eaters nodded and drew their wands, their eyes flickering back and forth from Harry to the gray sky above the clearing. Remus felt Snape's grip on the back of his sweater loosen slightly. He glanced back for a moment, taken aback by the suddenly lax grip. Snape's expression betrayed nothing as the ropes around Remus's wrists became loose enough for him to slip off.

Lucius raised his wand, pointing it at Harry, and began the incantation, his expression calm and stoic. "Avada Ka-"

"NO!"

Remus tore out of Severus's slackened grip and pitched himself across the small clearing as fast as he could make his damaged body go. He landed on top of Harry with a soft "oomph" and wrapped himself around Harry's smaller frame as best he could just as Malfoy finished.

"-avra!"

Green light erupted from the end of Malfoy's wand and shot directly towards Remus's exposed back.

OhmyGod, this is so mean of me and I know you guys will hate me, but this is the end of chapter eight...Sorry! I still have to do some major work on the next chapter, but I'll get it up as soon as possible.

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Thanks for reading!