Chapter Sixteen - Into the Fire

The memorial for Benjy Fenwick was intimate and private. Only his inconsolable widow and the members of the Order of the Phoenix were present. There was no coffin, nor urn, for after a full surveillance of the area not enough of Benjy could be retrieved to fill either. All they found intact were an eye, part of an ear, a few scant pieces of flesh, and inexplicably several blocks away, a single finger. The brutality of his murder sobered even the most optimistic of their number, and struck a cold sort of fear into all their souls that few would admit was ever prevalent now. Voldemort and his followers took glee in attacking people right within their homes, and the question on the forefront of every person's mind now was, 'Will it be me next?'
The grisly scene had made the Daily Prophet in the end, mercifully sans photographs, although was relegated to a small paragraph towards the back of the paper, leaving merry Christmas cheer to plaster the front pages in an effort to raise morale.

The journalists were not the only ones trying to achieve this.

"Eggnog, Mr Lupin?"

"Only if you promise to call me Lyall, Mrs Potter."

Not for lack of insistence from Remus, for the first time that Remus could remember at all, Lyall had agreed to a shared Christmas. He had not gone so far as to open his home, now the most permanent residence he'd lived in since Remus was five years old, but had with encouragement agreed to Christmas lunch with James, Lily and Sirius under the proviso they were home in time for their own dinner. Peter, the only one of their number with family still in the vicinity, had gone with the rest of the Pettigrews.

The spacious living area of the Potters' home modestly proclaimed that Christmas was here. Ribbons of silver tinsel lined the mantelpiece, and holly and vanilla scented candles perfumed the air. The Christmas fir tree was set in pride of place in the corner of the room, adorned with gold, silver and red ornaments that Snitch was currently batting at on the lowest branches. Five mugs of homemade eggnog sat on the coffee table between the couch and two comfortable armchairs by the fire.
Three framed photographs rested along the mantelpiece. The leftmost picture was James and Lily on their wedding day, laughing and dancing around the frame hand in hand. In the centre, a younger Fleamont and Euphemia bouncing a toddler on their lap and smiling fondly at the photograph to their right. And on the far right, four grinning Marauders with their arms slung around each other in their finest dress robes, Sirius raising a goblet of wine in his outstretched left hand. Outside the window, Sirius' motorcycle was parked on the front lawn, driving goggles hanging over the handlebars. Sirius himself was leaning against the propped open window, a half finished cigarette blowing directly outside.

"I thought you would spend Christmas with your family?" Lyall, perched uneasily on the edge of the comfortable arm chair, took the mug that the witch offered him as Lily stepped around the coffee table and sat opposite him. She'd really only met Lyall on a few occasions, nothing more than a passing greeting and knew Remus' father even less than the others did.

"We would have, but Petunia and Vernon, my sister and my brother in law, insisted on hosting Christmas this year, and…well, the invitation doesn't exactly extend to James and I." Remus watched from behind his father's shoulder as the briefest flicker of hurt flashed over Lily's face before it vanished and she hastily added, "It wasn't my parents fault, I insisted they go there, it's only fair to my sister as we did have a wedding this year, and we have family here we can spend Christmas with."

"Lily is muggle-born, Dad." Remus reminded his father, and levitated another log from the pile beside the fireplace onto the dwindling hearth.

"So you are." To his son's immense relief, Lyall's eyes lightened and for a moment he looked younger than he usually did. "I did always enjoy the muggle way of doing things, particularly at Christmas, I'm glad to see you do too."

Remus's eyebrows shot up into his hair and subtly he raised his own cup of eggnog and sniffed it for any trace of brandy before smiling widely at Lily across his father's head. To his knowledge this was the most social his father had been outside of the Ministry since he could remember, and Lily, beautiful muggle born Lily, was exactly the person to make Lyall Lupin comfortably reminisce about the late Hope Lupin, muggle.

And then, like it always did, the brief stab of pain followed. Time did not lessen grief, it simply made it easier to bear but it did nothing to ease the pain when it returned. Swallowing the lump in his throat he suddenly looked around. "Where did James go?"

Lily's warm smile dimmed just the slightest bit, and she glanced toward the window, "I think he's outside. He's…"

"I thought so. I'll be right back."

It was a cold winter but Remus had no need of a scarf or gloves as he stepped out of the front door of Godric's Hollow. Three sets of footprints patterned the snow heading towards the door but only one set went out. They ended only a few metres from the door, but gave no indication of the twirl needed to apparate. "James? Prongs?"

"Look up, Moony."

And there was James, perched on the top of the roof with his broomstick leaning against the chimney. He reached over, grabbed it and tossed it down, "Come on up."

Catching the broom in both hands, Remus mounted, kicked off and soon floated to the roof to join his friend. "How your Animagus form is not a bird, I do not know." returning the broom to its spot against the stone chimney, he brushed some snow off a patch of roof and sat down beside James, long legs flirting with the edge of the roof.

James' usually smiling face was reserved, his arms wrapped around his knees like a sullen teenager and chin propped atop them as he looked straight ahead. Remus did not need to ask to know what was wrong, he felt it too. There was no need to speak and so he didn't until a few minutes later James did first.

"It doesn't get easier does it?"

"Not easier, no."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Good that you didn't feed me some rubbish about time healing everything."

The scars across his face creased as Remus smiled and compacted a handful of snow to form a snowball which he promptly tossed off the side of the roof. Though they were tragic circumstances, he could at least truly sympathise with James, in a way bringing him closer to his friend. Beneath his glasses, James' eyes held a glassy sheen from the tears that he wasn't allowing to fall as he readied to face his first Christmas without his parents. Remus knew what he was thinking before James even said it aloud.

"It's also your first Christmas as a married man, don't forget that part."

"Merlin, you're intuitive, mate."

xxxXxxx

"Too slow, now you're dead!"

There was a loud thump as a body hit the floor, and some muttered cursing. "You're going to have to be quicker than that."

Peter was sprawled on the ground, his legs locked together and wand rolling inches away from him as he flailed for it, his face bright red.
Dorcas kicked his wand back to him, allowing him to mutter the counter curse and reached out a hand to haul him up, "Up you get, Pettigrew, we're going again."

Half of the Order had assembled in an old barn outside of Dodworth, remote enough not to draw unwanted attention, for some insisted upon combat practice. If they could not hold their own against each other's jinxes, they could not hold their own against a fleet of Death Eaters aiming to kill.
The barn was huge, and long out of use, made predominantly from wood and supported by one stone wall on the eastern side. The floor was largely dirt, its wooden boards mostly torn up and splintered and old straw strewn around the place. Still the smell of cows and sheep stuck to every part that was left of the old surfaces, an ever present reminder of the structure's old life.

Dorcas had stepped into a position of authority, in the absence of Moody who was in deep discussions with the Minister for Magic and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and would join them later. As Peter righted himself and prepared to try again, she turned to survey the rest of them. Frank was holding his own well against Edgar Bones, the pair exchanging spell for spell and shield for shield with an impressive speed. Alice and Marlene together duelled opposite Dirk and Sirius, the nimble Mrs Longbottom darting around with grace and agility. She drew the eye of her husband who missed reacting just a microsecond too late and toppled to the ground locked in a full body bind.
Emmeline and James were zipping around and through the high and patchy ceiling on brooms, taking turns to pursue the other one and knock them from their broom while Remus waited on the ground, eyes fixed and wand at the ready, to catch the one that fell first.

"I'm ready."

Dorcas heard Peter speak, saw him standing ready at the corner of her eye and glanced down to roll her wand from her purple sleeves to her fingertips, "Right, quicker with the shields this time…" She turned, and stopped mid sentence, brow furrowing in confusion. She'd seen Peter standing there just a moment ago and had heard no tell tale pop of Apparition to imply he'd disappeared. And yet, he had done just that. "Wha-"

"Expelliarmus!"

The Ministry witch's wand flipped from her fingers and backwards over her head, soaring away from her with the disarming charm that came from behind. She whirled around, black ponytail flying so fast it whipped her in the face as she spied Peter, standing on top of an old pile of sacks a few metres away with her wand held triumphantly in his hand and grinning with eagerness to please. "How did you…" For a moment Dorcas was speechless, and she wasn't the only one, the duelling foursome had stopped and all stared appreciatively, and a little disbelievingly, at the rare occurrence. The normally stern witch recovered her countenance and respectfully nodded as Peter bounced forward to return her wand.
"I admit I'm impressed. Well done."

xxxXxxx

Outside, a distance away from where half of the Order of the Phoenix was assembled, Sturgis Podmore patrolled the perimeter of their enchantments. Where so many of them gathered together there was always a risk of infiltration, and potential for catastrophic consequences. It was why they never met twice consecutively in the same location. He stood sentry now with his wand at the ready to send a signal should he be unable to warn them himself, but all had been still and quiet now on this border. Until it wasn't.
The cold breeze picked up, lifting the ends of his chin length blonde hair, but only on his right side. Clenching his jaw, the wizard shot his eyes to right but did not move his head to give away that he had felt the movement behind him. Slowly, barely moving at all, he turned his wrist, angling his wand behind him almost imperceptibly then suddenly spun and shot a hex at what appeared to be nothing.

A clawed hand clamped around his wrist from behind, wrestling his wand from his hand and throwing him to the ground with a foot planted firmly on his chest. Two figures stood above him, one unmasked and wearing instead a feral toothy grin, and the other shrouded in secrecy in a full face mask bearing the likeness of a skull. Sturgis did not have a moment to react before the masked Death Eater aimed their wand steadily at his face.

xxxXxxx

There was a brief shriek as Emmeline went flying from her broomstick, caught almost immediately by a neatly placed Aresto Momentum. As Remus guided her gently to the ground, and James drew to a stop in the high rafters, Lily gathered her coat closer around her and rose to retrieve Emmeline's fallen broomstick. Peter had been relinquished from Dorcas' attention and had sat beside Lily on what was left of an old livestock stall.
In the far corner, Edgar was helping Frank to his feet and Alice had Sirius, to the latter's chagrin, in a body bind.
"Alright, Lupin…let's go." Meadowes instructed, her face having resumed its no-nonsense expression, and gestured for Remus to join her as Lily took his place as spotter for the flyers.

Exchanging a brief nod with Peter, Remus stepped over some rubble towards Dorcas. Suddenly, with a soft pop Sturgis appeared in their midst, his hair tousled and brown robe torn. Both hands were curled into fists, his right clutching his wand. Everyone went quiet. Except for Dorcas who strode forward with a grim expression to meet their watchman. "Podmore, what is it? Dark Mark?"

"Death Eaters." Immediately everyone in the space was on high alert. "I saw them before they saw me but they're close." Sturgis' cheeks were pink with the cold and when he made eye contact with Remus he saw panic there.

"How many?" Edgar's deep baritone asked.

"At least four? I already sent a Patronus to Moody. He's on the way."

Something pricked at Remus about that sentence but it was pushed to the back of his mind as Sturgis, his eyes darting between them all stepped closer to him, the closest.

"Four? No problem then, we outnumber them by far."

"Sirius, don't underestimate them." But even though she had spoken the words, Dorcas sounded as confident of the fact as Sirius had.

"There's something else. I don't think they know we're here. We'll have the element of surprise if we go now, but I heard them talking…" Sturgis looked grim as he dropped onto a fallen beam right next to Remus. "They said we'll be too busy fighting ourselves to bother with them."

"What?" Three voices snapped in unison and Dirk shouldered his way through, "Are they saying there's a leak in the Order?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what, damn it?"

Then all of a sudden the hairs rose on the back of his neck and Remus sensed it a second before it happened but had no time to react. Too late he saw the milky vagueness barely there behind the gaze of their ally. Too late he smelled what he should have paid attention to. Sturgis leapt up with such impressive speed and locked his arm firmly around Remus' neck, his left fist opening to cram the contents of a small vial directly into his throat with such speed Remus had no choice but to swallow so he could breathe. "See if they'll keep you now." Sturgis sneered with a voice that was not entirely his own before three different stunning spells struck him simultaneously and he toppled to the ground face first.

Remus gasped for air, doubling over and coughing violently to rid himself of the vile taste of the liquid that was burning his throat.

"Are you alright?" Lily hastened over, placing her hands on his shoulders and guiding him to sit, and Remus struggled to nod as he found his breath again while Frank and Dirk rolled the stunned wizard over and conjured cords around him.

The young Auror bent down and lifted Sturgis' eyelid, peering into the blue irises then rolling up both sleeves to check for a tattoo. "Sturgis? Of all people, Sturgis?"

"Wait…he said he sent a Patronus for Moody." Alice snapped as Sturgis began to stir, struggling against his restraints as he came out of the stun. "What is your patronus, Sturgis?" She demanded, taking a step closer and then immediately being pushed back by her husband's arm.

Sturgis, whose entire manner now seemed a little addled as he blinked to focus on his interrogators, tilted his head and seemed to have no answer.

"He's under the Imperius curse."
"Because Sturgis struggles to cast a corporeal one, he doesn't know what it is…well done, Alice!"

"Remus?" Lily asked softly, drawing her attention back to Remus who had drained of all colour and stood almost frozen on the spot. "Remus, are you sure you're alright?"

But his heartbeat was pounding so loudly in his own ears that Remus saw her lips move but couldn't hear what she'd said, his eyes wouldn't focus properly, and his throat still burned from whatever Sturgis had given him. Poison? No. Perhaps? A deep sense of dread filled him as he suddenly became aware of the people around starting to turn and stare at him.

He swallowed a lump and winced as he bit his tongue and tasted blood. "I don't…"
It hit suddenly, a stabbing pain in his abdomen that made him double over and cry out loudly in pain, his foot dislodged the fallen vial from where it had dropped and it rolled towards Lily's feet. As she bent to pick it up, Remus knew what was happening. His pupils dilated so far they blocked out the green of his eyes, seams beginning to burst in his clothes as the all too familiar pain set in, But not now. Never now.

He was vaguely aware of James and Sirius charging in and taking him firmly by the shoulders, and someone hissed in his ear "It's not the full moon!"

"Oh Merlin, this is what he meant by fighting ourselves, isn't it? Remus? Remus you can fight it, it's not the moon!"

With the last fragments of himself he possessed he shouldered his would-be-restraints away forcefully and, gritted out between groans of pain, "Run!"

The last thing his human mind processed as his teeth elongated into fangs and fur began to erupt from his skin, bursting the confines of his clothes was a dozen paled faces staring at him in sheer horror, and James dragging Lily backwards away from him. Then he was gone with a scream of agony, pushed out of his own mind as his spine arched with enough violence it should have easily broken.

The soft spoken, scarred wizard who minded himself so carefully and never drew attention to himself was gone, his clothes in tattered rags around the dusty brown beast that remained. The werewolf drew heaving breaths, great pants that warmed the air as it gained its bearings, confused by its early reappearance.

Lily curled her fingers tightly around the vial she'd picked up, there was but a trickle left of the potion it contained. She knew of no potion that could do what it had done, it must have been a new creation. She had seen Remus in the wake of the full moon, had tended to his wounds, but she had never seen him transform before her eyes. She wagered that Sirius, James and Peter were among the very few of their number who had.
There was a long, terribly tense moment when no one moved, too in shock from what had just happened. And then the wolf looked up, fixing its prey with a fearsome look and let out a hungry roar, and everyone moved at once.

Half a dozen stunning spells struck their mark but were as effective as throwing a pebble and the wolf lunged, teeth and claws bared at the spot Frank and Alice had stood, making contact with nothing as they Apparated out of reach just in time. It whirled instead on Dirk and Emmeline, the latter of them soared up overhead, dragging the former with her. James, a flicker of guilt in his eyes, aimed spell after spell at Remus, unable to use his Animagus form to restrain him.
No one paid attention to the fact that Peter seemed to have vanished. Together Sirius, Dorcas and Frank directed cords to bind him, they wrapped around the werewolf's hind legs and brought it crashing to the ground for a minute with a frustrated snarl. One slash of its claws and they snapped. The werewolf rounded on the only target that was not moving, the bound and imperiused Sturgis did not even try to scramble out of the way. He was one hairsbreadth away from being devoured when a block of stone flew into the wolf's jaws instead. Moony yelped, snapping a fang on the diversion and giving Sirius time to Apparate in and out of the way with Sturgis.
"Afflicto!"

The spell landed squarely on the werewolf's side, and hit its mark, cracking one of the large ribs and drawing a loud yelp of pain from the werewolf as it momentarily staggered back.
"Don't hurt him! It's not his fault!"

"You'd rather I let him eat us?" Dorcas snapped harshly at Lily who had dragged her wand arm down immediately after she'd cast the bone-breaking curse, a difficult one to master and almost always an effective disabler.

But even a broken rib did little but anger the beast who, throwing the stone in its mouth away with such significant force that it struck Sirius hard in the leg before he could deflect it, rounded on the witches on the other side of the barn.

Edgar Bones bravely leapt into the line of attack, providing a significantly larger target as he stared down the werewolf, whose jowls were salivating hungrily.

"Muffliato! Now Emmeline!"

"Exoculo!"

A well timed spell aimed from above, which until the moment had been nearly impossible to land successfully, landed perfectly in its target's eye right as the werewolf lunged for Edgar.

Suddenly blind, it missed the landing, and the victim, by inches, howling in frustration. Its sight had been taken from it, and only a dull buzzing filled its ears until the wolf rapidly spiralled into confusion, staggering wildly in a circle. With one blind vicious swing of a paw it struck out, sending Edgar flying into the wall with a hard thump where he slid down unmoving.

Now unable to depend on vision and hearing, it focused on scent instead, a mash of human scent that surrounded it on all sides and above. Two were sweeter than the others, enhanced in some way that was even more attractive to a carnivore. Blindly it turned, unable to see projectiles coming and being smashed hard on the side of the head by something. The fur split below its eye and it tasted its own blood dripping into its mouth. Still it was undeterred and charged directly towards the most appealing scents.

Directly, it seemed, towards Lily and Alice.

While it was distracted by fast paced spells and levitations in its path, turning blind eyes in anger towards everything that struck it, Lily had withdrawn as far back as she could, keeping as much distance as she could between herself and the out of control werewolf.
Alice knew what she was doing and ran to help. Her wand raised and lips moving rapidly as she kept her eyes fixed on the target. And as James and Frank threw themselves directly in front of their wives and tried to pull them away they kept their focus.
Even as she could feel the hot breath, as the wolf was close enough she could see the scars on its canine face that matched the ones on Remus, Lily did not lower her wand.

As suddenly as it had burst forth out of its human skin, the great beast, eyes still blinded, collapsed to the ground, fast asleep. The sleeping spell required lengthy eye contact and uninterrupted casting to work, and there was not a consistent period of time the subject would sleep for when uninterrupted. It was a risk. But it did the least harm.

"Ligamen Catenae."

Iron chains wrapped themselves around the werewolf, binding all four legs together and snaking over the heavily breathing torso, firm enough to keep it from moving but not so tight it awoke from the enchanted sleep.

"Lily! What the bloody hell did you think you were doing? He nearly killed you!"

"It worked, didn't it? Get off, James, I'm fine." Lily extracted herself from her husband's terrified embrace, fixing him with a pointed look but wisely keeping her distance from the sleeping beast. "We don't know how long that will work, or how long whatever this-" she held up the vial with the leftover potion "-will take to wear off, it's not a full moon so surely…"

"About that…" Dorcas clipped, her dark eyes flashing as she and Dirk alone kept their wands trained on the wolf. She fixed James and Lily with a hard stare, "You knew, didn't you?"

When they said nothing but exchanged an uneasy glance she asked again, louder and more demanding, "Didn't you?!"

"What in the name of all that is magical is going on here?! There's a Dark Mark not half a mile away and you're all still standing around!"