Chapter 1 - Moonshine

Remus' head was spinning. As opposed to his expectations, Greyback's taunts had not lead to him being brutally executed by the feral pack-leader. He was hanging on the fringe of the crowd, which was getting rowdier by the minute. He closed his eyes and breathed in the damp smell of the nightly forest. Moss and decaying trees mixed with some plant that was growing on the banks of the small river nearby. Remus rarely paid attention to such things as trees and what they smelled like, but now it felt oddly comforting to know that there were some living beings around that did not wish him ill. Or perhaps he was merely relieved to be able to smell, since it meant that he was still breathing. His hands were shaking slightly. He had managed to remain calm until it really sank in that he was not to die tonight and all the gathered up adrenalin fled his body.

Remus shifted trying to get into a position where the moist of the forest would not seep into the backside of his robes. His hand switched to his pocket before he remembered that he did not have his wand with him in this little excursion to the wilderness. He had been sorely tempted to fight his way out once he realized he had been surrounded, but he was so outnumbered that any attempt to battle would have ended quickly and probably violently, destroying his "I come in peace" –message in the process. He had barely had time to hide his wand where it was unlikely to be found before being dragged to face Greyback. A pointless gesture, perhaps, but he had thought that being armed among these people, some of whom had never even held a wand, would have been an unnecessary provocation. Of course, most of these people probably thought that his existence was an unnecessary provocation, so he could have kept his wand anyway.

Damn all the headmasters and Aurors for their argumentation skills that had made him come here and now sit alone and practically defenseless in a remote forest unable to fight even dampness. Remus dropped his head to his knees, groaning to himself.

Somebody pushed a bottle of unrecognizable liquid to his hands. Remus blinked in surprise and looked up. He had been so immersed in his thoughts that he had failed to notice a heavy-built man now standing right in front of him. Mad-Eye would have skinned him alive for being so inattentive.

"Go ahead, Lupin", the man smiled crookedly. "You really look like you need it. Loosen up a bit."

Remus did not exactly have a choice. He took a long swig of the bottle. The liquid burned far worse than even Firewhiskey – Remus gagged and had an enormous coughing fit. The man laughed and took the bottle from him, shaking his head.

"Not much of a drinker, are you?" the man grinned and downed a sizeable gulp with only a slight grimace before handing the bottle back to Remus.

He realized that he was slightly taken aback by how good-natured the man sounded. Gently mocking, almost playful tone reminded him painfully of Sirius. The man's long dark blonde hair was heavily streaked with gray and looked like it had been held from his face by the same braid for quite some time, and his face was covered with short but untidy looking beard that would have had Molly run screaming for a razor, but the smile on his face and the spark in his brown eyes made him look far from menacing. He looked like someone who would forever be making fun of something, and right now Remus feared that he was the target. He braced himself. The second gulp did not burn nearly as much as the first one, so Remus managed to regain some of his dignity.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name", Remus said, completely unsure of how to make conversation with one of Greyback's people. He was still surprised that he had been spoken to at all.

"Maxwell. But call me that, and I'll have to rip out your tongue. I'm Crow to everyone", he grinned and continued spontaneously. "My parents were morons. What kinds of idiots name their kid Maxwell Maxwell, anyway?" Crow shook his head in disgust.

"Remus Lupin. But you already knew that." Remus grinned a little forcibly and tried to ignore a spike of searing pain that shot through his heart. Crow was definitely entirely too much like Sirius. He forced himself to think about something that would take his mind from his deceased friend, so while Crow, who obviously liked the sound of his own voice, went on about what would happen if he ever even thought about calling him with his given name, Remus wondered why on Earth had someone so fair haired been nicknamed after a black bird.

x~x

After an hour or so of an idle and increasingly drunken chit chat, Remus had to admit that he enjoyed Crow's company. He felt embarrassed, too, of his own surprise of having found a civilized werewolf here. He had entertained the idea that all of Greyback's followers would be nigh mindless brutes incapable of a civil conversation, but Crow was obviously both nice enough fellow and rather sharp one too.

Very tentatively, Remus began to ask Crow what he thought about the war. The other man laughed like he had never heard a better joke.

"What about that? The war's between the Ministry and the Dark Lord. Yeah, Fenrir does favours to the Death Eaters, but that's his business." Crow must have noticed the disbelief on Remus' face, because he added, more seriously:

"I see you don't agree. But you haven't really lived our life, not until now that the last of your pureblood protectors is dead. I hear it was a Death Eater that killed him, so I guess it's no surprise you've picked a side. But it's not the same to us. We are used to a friend, or someone we know at any rate, getting killed by the Ministry. And we're used to avenging them as well.

Tell me, Lupin, why the Hell would we fight for the Ministry? They call us monsters and outlaws, but if we went by their rules, we wouldn't survive one winter. And if we wouldn't stand up for ourselves, those self-important fools would slaughter us before we'd have time to starve to death. Accidentally, of course", he laughed bitterly.

"And Dumbledore, if he were really all that interested in equality, he'd do something. All we've ever seen from him are some pretty speeches, and a fat lot that's helped us.

Fuck it, Lupin, the Dark Lord's no worse than the Ministry. Better even, in some ways. Downright crazy he is, sure, but he leaves us alone."

The other werewolf fixed his eyes on Remus'.

"It's the wizard's war, Lupin. Where's the use in dying for people that won't even admit we're people too?"

Remus had no answer.

x~x

Remus drained the last drops from the bottle and let it fall on the forest floor. He was going to stand up and fetch another one, but his legs would not carry and he fell on his face. It was hilarious, really. Remus struggled to an unsteady sitting position, giggling uncontrollably. Crow, who was wisely leaning on a tree, cackled evilly and raised his hand in a brief greeting to Greyback, who was walking past them.

The old werewolf nodded at Crow and shot a cold look at Remus, who dropped his gaze. He waited until Greyback was out of the hearing distance, before muttering: "Whas 'is problem?"

Crow slapped him hard on the shoulders.

"Don't worry s'much, Lupin," Crow slurred. "Fenrir doesn't like you, 'cause you've been mixin' with the wrong sort. Give 'im a few weeks an' keep your head down, 'e'll come round." Crow shook the empty bottle futilely.

"Oi, Ada!" he called towards another group of people sitting around a small fire. A young black woman with dreadlocks turned to look at Crow.

"Now b' a good girl and run us another bottle!"

The good girl in question picked up a bottle and tossed it at them rather forcibly. It hit Crow on the forehead, followed by strings of obscene suggestions of what Crow could, and indeed should, do with the bottle. Remus was glad it was so dark, since, as drunk as he was, he still felt his face burn red. The girl was shouting very explicit and detailed descriptions of human genitalia and inanimate objects coming into contact with each other. On Remus' opinion, she was much too young to be so well-rehearsed in the subject, but Crow just laughed, rubbing his forehead and corked the bottle.

You know what I want you to do...