As the car set off, all Remus' senses felt overwhelmed. Muggles were laughing and calling to each other as they crossed the street. The wheels of the car hummed beneath them as it skirted over the cobbled road.

Remus' coat was twisted around him. He wanted to tear it off. He had still not caught his breath from all the rough housing he had suffered, and he was still aching from Sirius' kicking and Auror Higg's bruising grip, but none of that mattered compared to the pain emanating from his wrist.

Cradling his arm in his lap, the silver hand cuffs glinted in the low light. It felt like the metal had been held above an open flame for hours, like Remus' skin was melting from his bones. From what Remus could make out in the flashes of light from the streetlamps, the damage was not as bad as it felt, but his skin was still red and swollen and beginning to blister in several places.

As the car turned off the Royal Mile and wove its way down towards a roundabout, Auror Higgs said something from the front seat, but Remus could not take it in. He struggled with his shirt sleeve. It had ridden up his arm beneath his coat. He tried to pull it down and stuff it between his skin and the silver, singeing the fingers of his left hand in the process.

Remus grew more and more frustrated as he struggled, his eyes watering from the pain. He could feel Sirius' judgemental eyes on him, but he did not care enough to stop trying. Finally he managed it, and the relief it brought was enough to make him audibly sigh.

'What, boring you, am I?' Higgs asked, his tone hardening.

Remus looked up to see the Auror twisted around in his seat and leaning around to face him. It seemed Higgs had said something to him.

'Don't talk to it,' muttered Withers, as the car cross the bridge over the railway tracks.

Auror Higgs made a huffing sound of protest, but eventually relented and turned back to look back out of the windscreen.

Remus deflated a little and sat back in his seat. He wanted to clutch his wrist with his other hand and hold it close, but he could not touch the silver, and so just left his right hand sitting on his knee, willing it to calm down and stop pulsing with pain.

'Remind me why we aren't apparating?' Sirius asked curtly, bringing Remus out of his revery.

'There's a portkey set up at the edge of the city,' Auror Withers said. 'It'll take us straight to the Ministry.'

The reminder of where Remus was and where he was going brought his mind out of its fog of pain and into the present moment. It was yet to sink in, the fact that he had been caught, in mere hours, no less.

Remus could see now how stupid he had been, how naive. He wanted the dread and the despair to catch up with him if only because he so painfully deserved to feel it.

As they turned a corner, the waxing moon appeared from behind a tall building. Remus felt a psychosomatic flare of ache in his bones. The full moon was in three days. Would the aurors let him transform, or would they execute him as soon as they got back to London? Remus doubted he would have anything as civilised as a fair trial.

It was all so dramatic. Never mind feeling hopeless, or hating himself, Remus found himself having to hold in a laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

He had thought Regulus was half mad. Perhaps it was something the ex-Death Eater had passed on, something Remus had caught from turning the pages of that infernal black book.

A black book, which he realised, that still rested in his inside coat pocket. Sirius had had a surprisingly violent reaction to seeing Remus again, but it had worked in Remus' favour, distracting the aurors enough to make them forget to search his person any more than they already had. It had been a huge oversight, really. Remus could have had another wand stashed away for all they knew.

The Ministry would get their hands on the book as soon as Remus arrived. What would they do with it? Would they read it, or just throw it away? Remus would not be able to get his hands on it again once he got there, and most definitely would not be able to escape.

Remus cast a look sideways at his captor. Sirius Black had his gaze fixed on Remus, as if to look away was to permit his freedom. There was a cold, dead look in his eyes that made something in Remus shiver.

Remus looked away and out of the window. They were still in an area of the city that had numerous muggles milling around. There was a family of four wandering along, the youngest on his dad's shoulders as he sucked on a lolly pop, his older sister calling up to him as she swung on her mother's hand. Further down the street, an older couple were wandering along slowly, arm in arm, smiling at each other as they spoke.

As was so common these days, Remus felt a flare of dissatisfaction with life. He heard the desperate words in his own head, the phrase it's not fair, repeated over and over and over again.

Remus knew he had a tendency towards melancholy. That was why he and James had, in Remus' opinion, made such good friends. James had been a beacon of positivity from the day Remus met him. He had lived a privileged life, rarely facing any obstacle or hardship, but Remus had always loved that fact rather than resented it, the fact that nothing had ever even dreamed of attempting to put James' fire out.

What would James have said to Remus, as he hurtled towards his own incarceration?

Seriously, Moony? You're just going to give up? What would be the point in that?

It would be nonsensical to James for Remus to not attempt escape now. That was why, when Remus' eyes fell on the handle of the car door, his brain finally seemed to recover itself and kick into gear.

He had enough wherewithal to wait until the car slowed, as it came up to a set of traffic lights. As soon as it felt safe enough to do so, Remus pressed down hard on the handle of the door and threw his body forwards, swinging his legs to the left.

As soon as he did, he felt a set of hands on his shoulders, pulling him back.

'Oh no, you don't,' Sirius cried, digging his fingers into Remus' arms and yanking him backwards with all his might.

Remus kicked at the door, trying to force it open wide, as he wrestled with Sirius' hold on him. The muggles on the pavement had stopped and started staring at the altercation. One young man stepped forwards onto the road, asking if Remus was alright.

Just as Remus managed to throw off one of Sirius' hands, the car door slammed shut.

Auror Higgs had used his wand from the front seat, but Sirius did not let go as he yelled at his colleague. The handcuffs had once again slipped down Remus' wrist, and the pain flared sharply. His breath came quick in his chest as he attempted to pry off Sirius' hands, but the man's grip was strong.

'Lock it, you imbecile,' Sirius ordered, as he did all he could to stop Remus from reaching the door handle again.

Higgs let out a baffled sound and twisted in his seat aimlessly. The same confident muggle had come forwards and was about to knock on the car window, but then the lights turned green, and Auror Withers pressed her foot down firmly on the accelerator, almost hitting another muggle as she veered perilously close to the pavement.

'The Colloportus spell,' Sirius yelled. He had apparently abandoned his own wand in the heat of the moment, perhaps afraid Remus might snatch it.

'Colloportus!' Higgs yelled.

A flash of light hit the door, and Sirius finally let go of Remus, panting and sitting back in his seat as far as he could, his chest heaving.

Remus too was a mess, but his wrist was once again top priority, and he quickly fumbled with his shirt sleeve.

'You should have stunned him,' Higgs called to Sirius accusatively.

'He might have fallen out the door,' Sirius rebuffed, straightening his t-shirt beneath his leather jacket.

'Who would care if it did?' Higgs muttered.

Having sorted out his wrist as best as he could, Remus tried his hand again on the door handle, just in case, but the door held fast. A quick check of the speedometer on the dashboard also told him that the car was now travelling at seventy miles an hour, and he really did not fancy becoming a piece of flattened roadkill on a random stretch of Scottish motorway.

'Why didn't you lock the caruh door?' Sirius cut out with incredulous venom, as Withers took a turning onto a dual carriageway.

Higgs opened his mouth and then closed it, momentarily lost for words. Finally, turning on Withers, he asked, 'Why didn't you lock it?'

Withers gave her colleague a helpless shrug without looking at him. 'I don't know how to work this bloody thing,' she said, shaking the steering wheel to emphasise her point. 'It took me five minutes to figure out how to turn the damned thing on.'

She started pressing buttons on the dashboard, inadvertently turning on the radio. A few bars of what Remus recognised to be The Tide is High by Blondie started playing.

Remus was struck dumb for a moment, and then something in him came up through his body and spilt out in a loud guffaw of laughter. The noise made Sirius jump next to him, and this did not help Remus as he attempted to make his expression fall back to neutral.

'Is there something wrong with you?' Sirius seethed at him.

Remus could not help wondering if there was indeed something wrong with him. He felt tired, and dazed, and half like he wanted to cry. He was just as surprised as Sirius that such mixed emotions manifested themselves as outward merriment.

Withers apparently took offense to the jovial song and switched the radio off again.

'Just use the spell again,' she muttered, and with a nod Higgs raised his wand.

'What?' Sirius cut out, attempting to both lean forwards towards the aurors and stay as far away from Remus as humanly possible. 'And lock us all in the car with him.' He shot Remus a foul look. 'Don't be stupid.'

'Don't think you can go around calling us stupid, Black,' Higgs, said, his voice rising.

Sirius' lip curled. 'Stop acting like it then.'

Remus almost let out another laugh, and he turned away to hide his mouth in the collar of his coat.

Auror Higgs swivelled around in his seat, glaring at Sirius. His expression shifted as he seemed to pause for a minute in thought, then, leaning in between the seats, he snatched up the handcuff hanging from Remus' wrist.

Remus let out a hiss of pain as the metal slid down to touch his bare skin once again, but then to his surprise, Higgs snapped the other handcuff around Sirius' left wrist that had been lying innocuously on his leg.

Sirius let out a sound of protest and pushed Higgs away, but it was too late.

'What the hell are you playing at?' Sirius said with incredulity as he stared down at their linked hands.

Sirius set about attempting to take the handcuff off, making his hand as small as he could and trying to push the metal over his thumb. This only tugged on Remus' wrist more. Remus yanked it back towards him, pulling Sirius with him, as he tried desperately to stuff the fabric of the shirt down between the cuff and his skin.

Remus felt equally as appalled. It would be a lot more difficult to escape now that he was physically attached to an auror.

Despite it all, something in Remus was still clinging onto the idea that the two of them could work together, but this vanished at Sirius' next choice of words.

'Isn't it bad enough that I have to sit next to the dirty creature?'

Remus felt something within him sink. Sirius had said something similar on the street as he was kicking Remus to the curb, but Remus had been hoping it had been a result of the heat of the moment.

'Charming,' Remus muttered half-heartedly.

Sirius shot him a glare like liquid steel was pouring out of his eyes. Remus caught his gaze and made himself hold it. Perhaps the vitriol was justified to some extent, considering the fact that Sirius believed Remus to be a murderer, but the werewolf jibes did have a tendency to make something in Remus switch, giving him, if anything, more confidence.

The car made its way along, surrounded by a sea of driving muggles going about their business. Withers soon pulled off the carriageway and onto a quieter and darker single-track road, with the shadow of hills set against the darkened sky in the distance.

Sirius folded his arms across his chest, pulling his left arm towards him, but the movement only pulled Remus' arm with it, causing Remus to let out an involuntary sound of pain.

'Will you stop that?' Remus hissed, wincing.

'Oh, hurting you, am I?' Sirius said with mock sincerity, and he purposefully yanked on the cuffs again.

'Please,' Remus said through gritted teeth, immediately regretting showing any sign of weakness.

Sirius turned back towards Higgs, who was sitting smugly in the passenger seat. 'Are you out of your tiny little mind?' he spat at the larger man.

Higgs grinned at them with relish. 'New policy. All werewolves must be accompanied by an auror. They're sneaky things, and we don't want it getting away.'

This struck Remus immediately as being very odd. What auror in their right mind would draft such legislation? A body-bind curse would be much more effective.

Now that Remus thought about it, the conduct of the two aurors was not quite adding up. Remus had already noticed the strange circumstances under which they had brought Sirius along in the first place. The fact also, that Remus and Sirius were being driven through the dark into the middle of nowhere, was unnerving at best.

Sirius looked incredulous. 'So, handcuff him to your own wrist!'

Withers let out a huff. 'That's likely.'

'Give me the key,' Sirius demanded.

'We'll unlock them at the Ministry,' Higgs said, still smirking.

With his wand, Sirius sent a non-verbal spell at the cuff, but it did not budge.

'You know that won't work, Black,' Auror Withers said, glancing in the rear-view mirror, and making the car swerve slightly on the road. 'Only the key can break the magical seal.'

'What if he bites me?' Sirius asked, pointing at Remus.

Wither's tsked, and Remus could practically hear her eyes rolling. 'You've got your wand, haven't you?'

Sirius let out a frustrated growl.

'I wouldn't do that,' Remus hummed. 'People might accuse you of being a werewolf.'

Sirius rounded on Remus with a snarl. 'Shut your damned mouth,' he said, and yanked on the handcuff again.

This did momentarily shut Remus up, and it made him start to think he had misjudged Sirius. The man had been nothing but vindictive since Remus had been caught.

Sirius was now purposefully not looking at Remus. He pulled his hand into his lap so that Remus' was left to flop lifelessly on the middle seat at an awkward angle. Remus saw Sirius' gaze fall down to his sore wrist before it snapped up again just as quickly.

Remus sat very still and tried to ignore the pain. He felt embarrassed, flailing to make an escape, and then failing so miserably, but he was not out of options yet.

Sirius was being nasty, yes, and they were now physically tied to one another, but at least he was not a Death Eater. About the other two aurors, however, Remus was not so sure.

Remus was surprised they had not used more magic on him, even a surreptitious Confundus in front of the muggles. Hell, these were dark times. An Imperio would have done the job nicely and would likely go unpunished. This, coupled with Higgs' slow reaction time and the fact he had not known a simple locking charm, something taught at Hogwarts in second year, made Remus doubt the magical capabilities of this witch and wizard. Certainly, they were clearly not intelligent enough to make it through even a day of auror training.

Which begged the question, what were they doing there? Why were they bringing Remus and Sirius out into the countryside, alone?

The road was dark. The headlamps of the car illuminated fields of sheep and patches of woodland, before coming up and out onto windswept hillside, marred with tracks of fallen scree and trickling streams that shone in the moonlight.

Remus was not sure it was an achievable task, but he felt the need to get Sirius on side. He tried to catch the auror's eye, but when he could not, he instead whispered as quietly as he could, 'Do you know these aurors well?'

Sirius made no sign that Remus had spoken at all.

'Well, do you?' Remus whispered. His voice was barely louder than a breath, but Higgs heard.

'Shut it back there,' he huffed.

Auror Withers raised her gaze to see what was going on, causing the car to veer off widely on the road, coming dangerously close to a stone wall.

'Keep your eyes on the bloody road, Withers,' Higgs admonished.

'Stupid muggle thing,' she said, gripping the steering wheel tightly, but she focused her gaze back on the road.

'Joined in the last few months, perhaps?' Remus whispered as he leant in towards Sirius.

Sirius was frowning. Finally, he gave Remus a flicker of attention. 'I've been an active auror for almost a year now,' he muttered defensively.

'Oh, I don't doubt that you have,' Remus said darkly.

'What did it say?' Withers asked quickly.

Sirius paused, turning to stare fixedly at Remus, scanning his face. 'Nothing important,' he said finally. Then, just as quickly, Sirius turned away and went back to looking out of the window at the dark countryside.

Clearly, Remus reasoned, the sincere, imploringapproach was not going to bring forth any results. Remus could not help but audibly sigh.

'What, bored, are you?' Higgs asked, glancing back at Remus.

'Stop stirring the pot,' Withers hissed. 'Can't we have a quiet trip somewhere, for once?'

'Well, look at it! Sitting there like it owns the bloody car we're driving, like you're its bloody chauffer.'

Remus was baffled by this. If he was transmitting any kind of haughty air, then it was entirely by accident.

'Where is this portkey?' Sirius asked into the silence, interrupting Remus' train of thought.

'Not far at all, I'd imagine,' Remus said without thinking.

'Will you put a sock in it?' Withers yelled at him immediately.

'Sorry,' Remus said, but he could not help but smile. Throwing caution to the wind, he sat back in his seat and started whistling to himself.

Remus was gratified when Sirius looked over at him in disbelief. He realised belatedly that the song was The Tide is High that had been playing on the radio.

'Where's my wand?' cried Withers. 'I'll blow the mutt's mouth off.'

'The road, you fool!' Higgs said, mirroring his colleague's tone as he made a grab to hold the steering wheel in place. When the car was going once again in a straight line, Higgs muttered out of the corner of his mouth, 'Let's just do it here. It'll do.'

This made Remus go quiet. He listened intently.

'No,' Withers said back quietly, shaking her head. 'We were given very specific instructions.'

Silence fell again, and Remus felt the need to speak up. 'It's a wonder to me that anyone would leave a portkey all the way out here,' he mused.

When no one replied to his statement, Remus tried again. 'A very strange Ministry policy, I must say.'

'Shut it, you vermin,' said Higgs this time, and in a flash, he aimed his wand at Remus and muttered a swift Crucio.

For several seconds Remus was consumed by the most unimaginable pain. It was ten times worse than the pain in his wrist, worse than all his transformations combined, and he could see no beginning and no end to it, only feel the agony that could only be induced by the foulest of curses.

Remus could only thank Merlin that the spell did not hold much magical weight. The pain quickly ended, leaving Remus slumping back into his seat and fighting to catch his breath, his hands clutching at the car around him. He noticed his finger was brushing against Sirius' leg as he pressed his hand into the leather seat. Remus pulled his hand away immediately, but this action only brought Sirius' cuffed hand flying towards Remus to whack into his arm.

Remus expected to look up at Sirius and see a vicious glare directed his way, but the man was not looking at him at all.

'What are you doing, Auror Higgs?' Sirius said, with a hard, monotonous tone to his voice. 'That was an Unforgiveable.'

Higgs only shrugged. 'It's a werewolf.'

Sirius narrowed his eyes. 'They're called Unforgivables for a reason.'

Higgs' lip curled. 'I wasn't the one beating up that thing in the street,' he pointed out. 'That dark creature beside you murderedyour brother, Black. I'm surprised you haven't Crucioed it yourself yet.' Higgs turned to his colleague, nudging her with his elbow and grinning. 'You should have seen the way it's eyes watered.'

Sirius had gone from looking gobsmacked to, much to Remus' surprise, a tad wary. Remus had to wonder if he had spotted what Remus had. The pair just seemed off.

Remus was convinced of it. The two were taking them out into the countryside to kill them, or even worse, take them to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself.

'This'll do,' Higgs muttered, turning his head to Withers. 'Yes?'

Withers let out a huff but nodded.

The car began to slow. Remus knew he barely had seconds.

'Black, please,' Remus whined, leaning in and reaching out his injured wrist. 'Can you please take it off?'

'You know that I can't, you…' Sirius started, but he was cut off as Remus made a lunge at him.

He hit Sirius with all his weight. Fumbling for Sirius' door handle, Remus pushed it down, and in a flurry of limbs and a cry of shock they both fell out of the moving car.

They hit the road with a thud. Remus tried to turn to the side so he would not land right on top of Sirius, but the auror still took the worst of the fall.

Remus' side scraped against the tarmac, and he felt skin tear through his trousers. The impact hurt a lot, more than Sirius' beating had, and although the Crucio had been painful, at least it had not done any physical damage. The car had already been slowing down, so Remus could only hope neither of them would end up losing any limbs.

The car screeched to a halt up the road in front of them and Remus heard the sound of the car doors.

He fumbled quickly over Sirius, who was groaning and trying to get up.

'Fuck, my arm,' the auror bit out. 'My arm's broken.'

Whilst Sirius was still muddled, Remus took his chance and snatched Sirius' wand out of his hand. He then stuck his free hand into Sirius' jacket pocket and found his own wand.

Remus used both wands at once to cast a stunning spell in the direction of the car, and it was so strong that it flared through the air with a blaze of red light. He smiled with satisfaction when he heard a heavy thud against the tarmac, but Sirius was yelling now, trying to push Remus off, and he did not have a moment to spare.

Remus grasped Sirius tightly by his forearm, and taking a deep breath, he dissapparated.