Challenge—Without You
Chapter Eight
Without you the moon glows
Thump—the stretcher hit another bump and Remus was again rudely awakened to the fact that he was dying. He found this much easier to ignore with his eyes closed, so he closed them tightly and he felt his consciousness begin to slip when—thump. He whimpered helplessly.
The one Medi-Witch who continued to push him along the halls to the room where the Healer would be waiting, wasn't quite sure how to handle the man slowly dying on the stretcher. Her name was Marion and it was her first day on the job. If she tried to get him to speak he would bleed out more, but it may keep him in shock and then he wouldn't die of pain, unless he dies before she could get him to his destination, anyway.
"What's your name?" she asked, deciding that it was a good place to start.
"Remus," he voice was tiny whisper, his answer murmured almost inaudibly. "Remus Lupin," he finished slowly.
"So, Remus Lupin," she already had nothing left to say. "Got a wife? Kids?"
"No," he whispered, moaning in pain.
"You seeing someone?" She asked, desperate to keep his mind off his pain.
"Yeah. Name's Sirius. Sirius Black." He smiled slightly, and she bit back a sob. He was obviously young, younger than twenty-eight no doubt. He had a sweet smile, and she knew he was going to die.
"You're the lucky man who stole England's most eligible bachelor?" She smiled at him and his eyes opened, focussing on her. He nodded slowly, pleased with himself.
"We . . . married . . . six months from . . . Lily and James Potter." She was unsure if he meant they were married, or they were going to be married, but she recognized the Potter's names.
"We just saw the Potter's here a few months ago," She smiled, and he smiled back, a small, weak smile on his tired face. "Little Harry James Potter. Cutest baby I ever saw."
"Sirius's 'Arry's god . . . father . . ." his voice was becoming distant. She swore silently. He was dying right there and there was nothing she could do about it.
The river flows
The table had been a sterile table at one point in time. Now, it was covered in rivers of blood, all springing from the young man lying prone on the table. All three had had their hands busy for the better part of two hours, making potions, casting spells, trying to get a collapsed lung to reinflate itself, every rib to realign itself, lots of cuts and bruises to heal and much more. They were tired and weak and he was still bleeding and unstable.
Marion sat in the corner, still determinedly fixing potions while the Healer and her Medi-Witch partner sat and tried to gather their wits and strength back about them for another long run at attempting to heal the poor boy before them.
Remus was semiconscious. His eyes fluttered open and he felt a rush of pain. A small squeaky moan fell from his lips, but no one seemed to hear him. He closed his eyes, trying to find something that would keep him from feeling all the pain and distress his body was in. He thought of what Sirius was doing. He thought about their new apartment that hadn't even been slept in. He wondered when Sirius would visit him and whether or not everything would return to normal once they were happy and home.
He closed his eyes tightly, a couple of stray tears spilling down his cheeks. 'Sirius,' his lips moved, but his voice was unable to make noise to accompany his lips.
But I die without you
Sirius appeared on top of the apartment building where he had left his flying motorcycle, making it visible before hopping on it and speeding towards Lily and James's house. He bad feeling had been proven by Voldemort and he had to be there now.
They stood still, dark shadows in dark cloaks hiding in the dark night. Twenty of them stood outside the house, covering the premise like a blanket. Lord Voldemort himself strode up the house, and knocked down the door with a single spell. James died running backwards up the stairs screaming to his wife to run. Lily died trying to protect little Harry from Voldemort. Harry died fifty-six years later, saving four underage wizards from three Muggles with guns.
Sirius jumped off his bike and raced up towards the Potter's house. The Dark Mark hung huge and hideous above their house. He refused to believe it. Their door was wide open, swinging off it's hinges. He ran into James's body at the top of the stairs. No! He fell to his knees beside James, his closest friend, crying onto his cold chest. He kept telling himself that it couldn't be real. There was no way it could be real. It wasn't possible.
He managed to pry himself away from James's cold body, and stepped slowly towards Harry's room, trying not to think of what he might find when he got there. He closed his eyes at the doorway, took a deep breath, and then stepped in. He took a moment before opening his eyes, preparing himself for the worst. Yes, he was about to open his eyes when he heard a baby cry.
He was across the room in a moment. His eyes were wide open as he took in the sight of Lily lying still with her baby boy in her arms. He reached down and took Harry into his own arms, cradling the tiny baby, trying to get him to quiet. He had had very little experience with his brother as a baby, but he knew a thing or two about shutting a baby up, and carefully bounced the baby on his shoulder until he quieted some.
Wrapping him up in a blanket he found at the back of the room, Sirius walked out of the room and down the stairs in a hurry, not able to stand the sight anymore. He walked out of the ruined house, when he noticed a strange cut on Harry's head. "Oh, poor baby," he murmured. "We'll take you to St. Mungo's and you can stay with me and Uncle Remus, how does that sound?" He was too busy talking to the baby to notice a huge shadow pass over him. He looked up with a start.
Hagrid reached a big hand down and scooped the baby out of Sirius's arms.
"Give Harry to me, Hagrid, I'm his Godfather. I'll look after him." He was shaking he was sure. All the colour had completely drained from his face.
"I got me orders from Dumbledore. Harry 'as
to go ter his aunt an' uncle's."
Hagrid glared down at
Sirius who was breathing fast, almost hysteric. This couldn't be
happening. He couldn't lose Lily and James and Harry and Remus all
in one night.
"Please?" He begged. Then he remembered! Remus! The spy couldn't have been him, because he was in the hospital all night. Sirius found suddenly his mind was sharp and awake. That meant that it had to be—Peter! But no one knew that it was Peter who was there Secret Keeper. They all thought that it was himself, so when word got out that the Potter's were dead every one blame—him.
He pointed his wand off in the distance, tears dripping slowly from his eyes. Accio bike, he thought. His bike zoomed towards them, then dropped down to ground. He rubbed the handles affectionately. "Here," he said to Hagrid, looking pointedly in the opposite direction. "Take this. I won't need this anymore."
He stepped away and planned to Apparate away. He took careful time to remember the three D's this time. Destination. Take me where ever that bastard Peter Pettigrew is. Determination. I need to get there NOW to kill that bastard for what he did. Deliberation. Move! And then he remembered Remus again, and decided that Peter could wait, and Remus maybe couldn't.
The world revives
Remus felt like a metal weight had been placed inside his head. His head felt heavy and big and he couldn't move. He groaned, and his throat ached. He took a deep breath, only to find his chest hurt just as before. But he was alive.
He hadn't realized until that moment that he wanted some of the pain. As long as he could feel the pain of the still-major injuries that the Healer's hadn't fixed, he knew he was alive. That was more than he had hoped for earlier. He remembered suddenly that Sirius was still gone. He couldn't tell how long it had been, but he had a gut feeling that Sirius should have been back by now. But then again, he didn't even know where Sirius was.
He tried to sit up and immediately wished he hadn't. His vision swam, and his chest burned. All his muscles ached and his ribs creaked under the tension. He was in so much pain. He wanted to sleep, his eyes closed already in an attempt to make his vision normal again. He tried to drift off, but he couldn't stop thinking about Sirius.
Colours renew
His chest burned again. Burned as if hot coals were sitting in his chest and shifting with every movement. His throat felt as if he were breathing ash. His breath was hot and thick. He felt something rise when he tried to breathe, and coughed something up. He kept hacking and Hacking, and he was trying to get whatever it was out of his system. He had his hand over his mouth to cover whatever he might happen to cough up. His vision swam again, and he closed his eyes as he coughed.
He opened them again to see a massive amount of blood coating his hands and his visions was turning black. He heard someone calling his name and tried to see who it was, but all he could see was black and red.