Rescue

The motorcycle's engine roared as Sirius and Remus raced through the night sky. He's going to be fine, he's going to be alright, he's going to be alive and safe, Sirius reassured himself. Malfoy Manor soon appeared into their view, dimly lit by candlelight. It was surrounded by ominous forests, high walls with an iron gate, and a fog so dense that Sirius wondered if he would choke on it if they landed. He shook the thought out of his head because the only thing that truly mattered right now was rescuing James. Remus pointed to a clearing near the mansion. "We should land there and go in on foot. We'll make less noise that way." He suggested. Sirius nodded and started to descend into the murk and trees. Both Remus and Sirius got off the motorcycle, and Sirius took his flight goggles off. They walked for what felt like hours and finally made it to the gates of the mansion. Oddly, the gates were open. "This doesn't feel right." Remus breathed uneasily. They heard a creaking noise come from the gates.

"Wands out, Moony," Sirius said, agreeing with him. They both drew their wands in case there was trouble. Sirius took the lead and slowly made his way through the courtyard with Remus not far behind him. "Watch my back, yeah?" He whispered.

Remus nodded as he surveyed the large, empty space. It was quiet, far too quiet for his liking. There were no guards, no Death Eaters, no one in sight. The pair knew where these psychopaths would be keeping James, it was just a matter of getting in there undetected. "How are we going to get down to the cellar?" He asked.

Sirius pointed to the side of the mansion. "There should be an entrance to the cellar around there." The pair made their way around the thick-hedged garden walls of the courtyard and spotted the small storm cellar entrance. "There! That's it!" Sirius shouted.

"Shhh! Quiet, Padfoot! You don't want them to hear us, right?" Remus whispered.

Sirius quickly covered his mouth. "Right. Sorry, Remus." He mumbled through his hand. He lowered it and reduced his voice to a whisper to match Remus's voice. "I'm just glad that we're getting Prongs back."

"I'll be glad too, once we're all back home safe," Remus added. "Come on, we need to get that door open." Remus and Sirius approached the cellar doors. Unsurprisingly, they were locked up tight. Remus knelt at the cellar doors and inspected the lock. Sirius kept an eye out while Remus worked. "It doesn't appear to be enchanted." He observed. Remus raised his wand to the lock. "Alohomora." They heard a click, and the lock undid itself. Remus took the lock off and set it down in the grass. He and Sirius each opened one of the two cellar storm doors. They stepped down into the dark, musty old cellar.

Sirius laughed at himself at first. He thought about how much the likes of Lucius Malfoy and his family valued their family's image in the Wizarding World, but then having such a decrepit, dark, and leaking cellar under their mansion was ironic. Then, he saw dried blood on the floor and realized what it was intended to be used for. His smile faded into panic. "James?!" Sirius whispered loudly, trying to see if he could locate his best friend. No reply, just the sound of water dripping onto the floor and echoing across the room. It was almost pitch black in the cellar. Sirius gritted his teeth. "I can't see a thing down here." He raised his wand. "Lumos." No light emitted from his wand. "What's going on?" He asked as he inspected his wand. "I know I said it right."

Remus looked around. "It must be enchanted. Wands won't work in here." He answered his friend grimly. He tried to find a solution to their problem; Sirius could have sworn he saw real gears turning in Remus's head. "Wands won't work." He repeated, more thoughtfully. "What if…" He held his hand out and concentrated. Small sparks began forming in the palm of Remus's hand. "Come on!" The sparks grew bigger but faded down again. "Come on! I know I can do this!" With the flick of his wrist, a small collection of embers formed in his hand that lit up the cellar. Remus smiled at himself. "There we go, no wand needed." He looked next to him and saw Sirius staring at the fire in his hand, mouth agape and eyes wide. "What? You look like you've never seen fire before." The werewolf joked.

Sirius folded his arms. "Oh, alright, sure. Just perform wandless magic like it's no big deal."

Remus smirked. "It solved the problem, didn't it?"

Sirius didn't appear to notice Remus's question as he continued his sarcastic rant. "No light? Enchanted room? No problem! 'I'm Remus Lupin! I can just conjure a couple of flames in my hand, and we'll be fine!' Honestly, mate, when did you plan on telling us that?"

"I haven't exactly got it all figured out yet," Remus explained. "I was going to wait to tell you all once I mastered it. But it's helping us now. Isn't that what matters?"

Sirius let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. Where did you learn how to do that anyway?"

"With all of our trips to the Restricted Section at Hogwarts, you thought I wouldn't borrow a book or two?"

"I didn't know they had books on wandless magic in the Restricted Section. I guess I was too busy focusing on the Animagus books." Sirius smirked.

"And I will be forever grateful for that," Remus said. He motioned towards the rest of the unexplored cellar with his ember-lit hand. "Come on, let's find James."

Sirius and Remus treaded slowly, shoulder to shoulder, through the cellar. They saw chairs with loose chains wrapped around them, more dried blood, and an unlit lantern on a rotting wooden crate. However, what they did not see was their friend. They checked every inch of the decrepit cellar and found no sign of James. "Merlin, he's not down here!" Sirius shouted in a panic.

"Padfoot, relax." Remus attempted to calm Sirius down. "I'm sure they have just moved him somewhere else. If we're quiet enough, we can head upstairs and look around some more." Sirius took a deep breath and nodded. They both made their way up the cellar stairs. Remus carefully opened the door, which was unlocked. "That's odd," Remus muttered. They paid no further attention to it as they kept walking up the stairs to the first level of the mansion. At the top, they found themselves, once again, in the now nearly empty grand living room. Remus noticed the light was better on the first floor and quickly vanished the embers from his hand. Remus and Sirius spotted a figure standing in front of the large, ornate fireplace. The figure was dressed in all-black robes and was gazing thoughtfully into the flames. His black hair was neatly combed, his glasses sat effortlessly on the bridge of his nose, and he appeared to be unharmed.

Sirius recognized the figure instantly. "James!" He shouted as he darted towards his best friend. The figure in the glasses whirled around in surprise and jumped away from the dark-haired wizard charging at him. Sirius halted his sprint just inches away from James. "Oh. I'm sorry, Prongs. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just really glad to see you again, mate. Are you all right?" He asked.

James blankly scanned the pair of wizards before him. "How did you get in here?" He asked quietly.

"We found the cellar entrance, James. We thought you were down there." Remus explained. "We're here to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" James repeated what the taller wizard had said, uncertain of his intentions.

"Of course, Prongs! Come on, let's get out of here." Sirius smiled as he motioned towards the stairs.

James tilted his head. "Why do you keep calling me 'Prongs?' What does that even mean?"

Sirius gave his friend a concerned look, then chuckled. "Oh, good one, James! The whole 'they wiped my memory' prank is a classic! Now come on, stop joking around. We need to go before the Death Eaters hear us."

"What prank? I don't pull pranks." James said, his voice hollow. "You're both trespassing. You need to leave, or else I'll call Madam Lestrange."

Remus gave Sirius a nervous glance, but the darker-haired wizard still believed James was joking. He smiled again at his best friend. "You are hilarious, mate! But we need to go."

"I'm not your mate!" James shouted sharply. "Why would I be friends with a blood traitor like you?"

Sirius's smile did not waver. He played along with his friend's act, barking out a laugh as he spoke. "Oh, come on, James! You just married a Muggle-Born!"

James gave the wizard a dubious look. "I'd never touch a Mudblood." He said coldly.

The moment he heard that word, Sirius's smile dissolved into an expression of horror. He had never heard James use that word before, not even as a joke. Even when Snape said it, James couldn't even repeat it. Now, he knew something was seriously wrong. "Don't call her that!" He gasped.

Remus took a step closer towards the fireplace so James could see his face better. "James, do you recognize me?" He cautiously asked his friend.

James blankly stared at Remus before he answered, "Yeah, I know you. You're Remus Lupin." Remus's face broke into a hopeful, boyish grin. "The werewolf." James chillingly noted casually. Remus's smile faded. "I'm surprised Dumbledore let someone like you into Hogwarts. It's a miracle you didn't kill anyone."

Remus felt as if a dagger had just been plunged into his heart. How could his friend say such a thing to him after everything they had been through? Remus tried to find the words to say something to fix this, but he found his mouth could barely open. "James?" He managed to whisper.

Sirius gazed into James's hazel eyes, searching for any sign that his friend was under the Imperius Curse or something else that would force his best friend to say these terrible things. "Merlin, James, what have they done to you?"

James frowned. "What did they do to me?" He repeated Sirius's question mockingly. "They fixed me up after you attacked me!" He shouted at the blood traitor.

"What are you talking about? I would never attack you! You're my best friend! Bloody hell, you're my brother, James! I'd never hurt you! Come on, Prongs, please! Snap out of it!" Sirius pleaded.

James's frown transformed into a loathing snarl. "Stop calling me that! You're nothing but a blood traitor! Why would I be friends with someone like you? You were scorched off of your family tree. Why would I take you in as a brother?" He spat the most torturous words he could think of to Sirius, like venom penetrating skin.

Sirius recoiled as if James had inflicted physical pain on him. He felt as if the room was spinning and slowly crumbling around him. "You can't mean that. You-you just can't, James."

Sirius felt a familiar hand grasp his shoulder. "He does mean it, Sirius." Sirius slowly turned to find Remus beside him. "It's like he said, they 'fixed him up,' remember?" Remus gave him a nod. A nod that Sirius took as a 'play along' nod. "There's no point in trying to confuse him."

James nodded in agreement. "Good to know that education wasn't wasted on a creature like you. Sounds like you have common sense, at least."

Remus acted as though the comment didn't matter to him, though it was difficult, and continued. "So, if he doesn't want to go with us-"

"-We can't just leave him here!" Sirius interrupted.

"I wasn't going to suggest that." Remus clarified. Remus slowly began to raise his wand.

James noticed and drew his own quickly. "What do you think you're doing? If you try anything, werewolf, you'll be-"

Remus didn't give James time to finish his threat. The taller man sent red sparks flying towards James. They hit their target square in the chest and sent James flying across the room. He landed headfirst, crashing into the hardwood floor with a loud thud. Sirius rushed over to James and found his friend unconscious, and thankfully, he had no other signs of head injuries.

Sirius whipped his head around to face Remus. "What'd you do that for?!" Sirius hollered.

"He didn't want to go with us. Now he's got no choice." Remus answered practically.

"You could've cracked his skull open!"

"I knew what I was doing!" Remus retorted. Then, he got a chill when he realized something. "Wait, Sirius, do you not trust me? Is that the real reason you didn't want me to come along?" Sirius stared at Remus blankly, as if he were confused by the question or perhaps contemplating the answer.

Remus found it troubling that he couldn't read what Sirius was thinking. Before Sirius could respond, Remus and Sirius heard feet begin to rustle and murmuring voices. Remus knew they had to get out of there. "Come on, we need to go. Now!" Remus told his companion in a quieter voice than he previously had used. Remus made his way over to James and Sirius and reached for James's arm. "He won't be able to fly on the motorcycle, I'll get him back to the house. We'll meet back there." Remus directed.

"And if he wakes up before I get back?" Sirius asked.

"I'll lock him up in one of the rooms until we figure out what they did," Remus said.

"Like a caged animal," Sirius muttered.

"Believe me, I don't like that either. I'm open to other suggestions." Remus stated. Then, the footsteps grew louder. "But be quick."

Sirius gritted his teeth in frustration and growled out his answer. "Do what you have to do, Moony. As long as I get my best friend back. Soon."

"He's my friend too, Padfoot. We'll fix this."

"Soon," Sirius repeated.

Remus nodded, grabbed James's arm, and disapparated. Sirius followed suit and apparated back to his motorcycle. As he put his goggles back and started the engine, he felt off. They got James out of Malfoy Manor, but this rescue mission just became more complicated. He shuddered. Merlin, what am I going to tell Lily? Sirius dreaded the thought.