Chapter Twenty Eight: Betrayed and Homeless

20 November, 1982

Remus was expecting it to be like just another day at the shelter, paired with the gripping fear of what may have happened to Sirius. As usual, he remained busy tending to ill or injured dogs, and if there weren't any that needed tending to, he brought one of the dogs out of the cages and took it out for a walk. It was while he was trying to persuade one of the smaller puppies to get into the leash, that one of his coworkers walked over to him with a deep frown on his forehead. He looked up questioningly, raising a brow while he attempted to cajole the dog into the leash with sweet words.

"Remus, it's Santa Paws."

He stopped immediately, his hands jerking up and loosening their grip on the puppy, who took advantage and wriggled out of his hold. But Remus wasn't focusing on him.

"What? Where is he?" he asked quickly, rising to his feet and twisting his head to look outside. And indeed, there stood, just outside the door, scratching on the glass surface with his claws, the large black dog who wasn't actually a dog. Before his coworker could speak, he was already running off toward the door and wrenching it open. Sirius immediately leapt on him and began to twist and turn.

Remus knelt down in front of him and held him steady, which wasn't easy because he kept jumping and squirming and barking loudly. Unable to figure out what to do, he finally called out, "Sirius! Stop. What's wrong?"

Sirius froze and stared at him. He placed a comforting hand over his back and peered into his face, hoping to understand what was going on. But Sirius tilted his head infinitesimally and gestured toward the exit. Remus lowered his voice as he asked, "You want me to go home?" He nodded. "Is something wrong?" He nodded again.

Pressing his lips, he left Sirius by the doorstep and reentered the shelter, a fresh wave of fear engulfing him. He told Adam that he had to go home due to an emergency and quickly left before he could ask him how Santa Paws had brought him the news. Gathering his cloak and bag, he hurried outside, following Sirius who led the way. But instead of going home directly, Sirius walked into a narrow alley, before turning human. Once Remus had caught up with him, he grabbed his hand, and turned.

Remus immediately felt a jerk in his body, followed by terrible nausea; it seemed like he was being sucked into an abyss. It was the most uncomfortable feeling, his innards twisting and turning inside him, his head spinning and the world revolving rapidly around his eyes, making everything go blurred. Before he could get used to the sensation, it stopped abruptly and sent him hurtling to the ground.

His vision was still blurry, but he somehow managed to see Sirius's feet as he hurried by him and disappeared through a door. He blinked a few times and raised himself by his elbows. It took him a few moments to realise that he was in the front of his own house. He attempted to stand. Then he threw up.

As he remained knelt on the ground, retching, Sirius reappeared through the doorway and cursed. With a wave of his wand, the contents of his stomach vanished, and he helped Remus to his feet, muttering, "Sorry, should have given you a warning."

He followed Sirius inside, and Sirius left the house once again before reappearing seconds later. The urgent aura surrounding him wasn't doing much to settle Remus's mind.

"What - what's going on?" he managed ask with the bitter taste still in his mouth. But the wizard ignored him and hastened to his room.

Remus went to the bathroom to rinse his mouth and face. He could hear voices coming from Sirius's room, and he had a sick feeling in his stomach, threatening to spill its contents out again. After downing a glass of water, he went to see what was happening.

On the bed was lying a man, who looked to be a few years older than him. Several large bruises covered his arms and abdomen, and he was taking in large gulps of air. Marlene and Sirius hurried about around him, applying potions on the wounds and using some spells on them, and occasionally forcing him to drink strange coloured liquids. The scene looked so out of the world to him, and he felt completely useless in front of them. Moving back, he closed the door quietly and left, deciding to make some hot chocolate for the man.

But why had they come here? he asked himself as he rummaged through the cupboards for chocolates, his mind reeling back to the badly cut man on the bed. An involuntary shudder passed through him, less because of the profuse amounts of blood staining the man and more because of what wizards were capable of doing. If they had the ability to inflict such injuries on a man, Remus was surprised that Sirius didn't bring such people every single day to treat.

After depositing three mugs of hot chocolate in the room downstairs, during which none of the occupants noticed him at all, he climbed up the stairs to his bedroom, where he went over to the window and leaned against it, bringing his hands to rub at his face. He has never been very good at handling stress, and having Sirius around was already stressful enough, especially with his worries of being attacked or killed.

A sharp knock sounding from the door startled him, and he jerked up. Blinking several times, he took a breath and went over to open the door. Sirius stood on the other side, a masked indifference on his face, all the initial anxiety and fear having disappeared. Remus allowed him to come in.

He was expecting Sirius to say something, but instead he fully entered the room and sat down on the bed. After rummaging through his pockets for a few seconds, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, before taking a long puff. Remus scrunched his nose, but before he could protest, Sirius stopped him.

"I'm full of adrenaline right now, and it helps me calm down. There's no point -"

"But cigarettes increase your adrenaline," he argued, crossing his arms over his chest, and sent Sirius a pointed look. He didn't look like he had heard him, and busied himself flicking ashes off the bedsheets.

"I think you should take a few drags too," he said nonchalantly, "because I have some bad news."

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No matter how impassive he acted or how many cigarettes he smoked, Sirius couldn't shake off the constant feeling of fear and paranoia that seemed to tighten their hold on him every passing day. War was something he could never get used to, and even if it went on for decades, he doubted he would ever be able to live a few minutes without looking into the eyes of people and unwittingly trying to decide whether they were a friend or foe, without feeling the sensation of fear circling him wherever he went or whatever he was doing, without seeing death and blood even with closed eyes. The war has gripped him hard, never to let go, and although it has been about three years, it felt like centuries to him, the pleasant memories of his past now nothing but a vague cloud in his mind, obscuring his focus on the present.

"Bad news?" asked Remus with a quiver in his voice. "What - what happened?"

He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. Taking a long puff from his cigarette, he stood up and threw it out of the window, before turning to Remus. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back.

"Will you stop dramatising it and just tell me what's going on?" Remus demanded, a flash of anger showing on his face.

"There's a traitor among us," he answered with a sigh. "Again," he added as an afterthought, though not loud enough for Remus to hear.

"Traitor?" he asked, looking and sounding bewildered. His green eyes were wide, and his mouth was hanging open. "You mean they gave away your location?"

Sirius nodded mutely, but that wasn't exactly true; he just didn't feel like explaining everything. Marlene's home was protected by the Protean charm, and her brother Nathan was the secret keeper. The only way their location could be revealed was Nathan telling someone directly. And Sirius didn't believe he would do that.

But then again, he hadn't believed Peter would do it either.

No, what had happened was they had been caught in a trap. They were supposed to ambush the death eaters where they had planned to massacre a muggle area, but the opposite had happened and they had been the ones to be caught by surprise. Rumours of a traitor among them were spreading, because there was no other way the death eaters could have known of their plan, especially because it was made at the last moment, precisely five minutes before they had disapparated to the place of ambush.

Caradoc Dearborn was killed in the battle that followed, and there were heavy injuries among the others. Sirius had to stay to look after the wounded people, while himself nursing a gash on the side of his waist.

And then Dumbledore had delivered an unexpected news - that they all had to leave their homes. There was utter confusion that followed his words, but Dumbledore had remained inexorable and refused to justify his decision. Not many had questioned him however, for he hardly ever provided reasons for his actions, and thus they were forced to leave the safety of the Protean charm and venture into the chaos outside.

Sirius wasn't very interested in the idea of leaving, but upon Marlene's and Nathan's insistence, he decided that listening to Dumbledore would be the best idea. Nathan had left, hoping to find any place to stay, at least temporarily, but he had come face to face with Snape on his way. By using some sort of a new spell, Snape had inflicted such ghastly wounds all over his body, but Nathan had somehow managed to apparate home, splinching his pinky in the process.

"So what are you going to do now?" Sirius snapped his attention to Remus, blinking rapidly for he had nearly forgotten of his existence. "Stay here?"

He wasn't sure whether there was a bitter tone in his voice, but he decided not to focus on it at the moment. "That's going to be least of your worries, Remus."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he took a few, very cautious steps toward him, as though expecting him to bite him. Sirius managed not to roll his eyes.

He licked his lips before answering his question. "It means," he began, slowly, enunciating each word, "that you have been dragged into our shit, Remus. And you cannot leave this house unless we say you can."

❇

poor remmy

also, I'd just like you to know that I'm not an expert in action stories, so excuse me for any inaccuracy in all these drama

thank you for reading!