This would be the darkest night of the year, it seemed. Pale moonlight barely penetrated the shadow that hung like fog over the forest, and what little light got through struggled to make it to the forest floor. Silence ruled as well, only increasing the menacing aura of the trees and plants.

However, the quiet was soon broken by a relatively loud crash and the mutterings of several curses.

"Quiet, ya fool. You've probably awoken the whole damned forest, you idiot. Ah, stop your moaning, you're fine."

A second voice penetrated the darkness. "Am not! Damn log tripped me, I sw-" His voice was cut off when his companion roughly yanked the man to his feet, followed by a yelp of pain.

"Now, c'mon. He's waitin'." said the first voice once more.

Grudgingly, the other man followed. The first man lead them through the still forest, his companion looking around nervously as they travelled.

Finally, they reached a break in the trees, and they stepped out into the dim moonlight. Now, with the added light, it was seen that they both wore dark, almost black cloaks, with hoods pulled over their heads to disguise them. Unfortunately, it did not work to its full purpose for the second man, whose long nose extended the length of the hood and stuck out into the moonlight.

The long-nosed man looked up to the moon and squinted. His eyes hurt from the dark of the forest and of the near-darkness of the clearing. Pulling out what seemed to be a long stick with what seemed to be a hair sticking out with it. Lifting it up into the night air, he muttered:

"Lumos."

The stick lit up immediately, soothing the man's eyes, as he gave a sigh of contented relief. His companion, however, immediately swivelled around with a look of horror upon his face.

"Put that out!" he hissed, coming over and grabbing his companion's shoulder. "Honestly, Xavier, sometimes I think you haven't an ounce of intelligence in your body. Do you want the Aurors to capture us? Hmm?"

Xavier looked so horrified at the prospect that he nearly dropped his wand. "Don't say that, Damien! They can hear you!"

"Rubbish." Damien muttered. "But they will find us with you waving around your idiot wand!"

Xavier hurriedly put it away into the sac by his side. "What are we to do now, Damien?"

The first man was silent for a moment, then turned to his companion. "Don't quite know, Xav. I reckon that He'll want us to go and-"

His voice broke off. Damien turned to the forest, while his partner shivered with fear on his log. "What is it, Damien?" Xavier whispered, his voice quavering with fear.

Damien stood very still a moment, his hooded face still turned to the forest they had just passed through. After a long moment, his posture relaxed and he turned back to Xavier.

"Though I heard something. Must have just-"

His line of speech was cut off once more, but this time for an entirely different reason. Three figures had burst out of the trees, running towards Xavier and Damien. One, the closest to the two, had yelled out:

"Stupefy!"

Damien had been caught in mid sentence, mouth still open and hand in mid-air. His frozen body dropped to the ground, still stuck in that ridiculous pose.

Xavier leapt off of his log, stumbling to reach for his wand. "Cru-Cru-" he stuttered.

Too late.

Another one of the three figures lifted their wand and pointed straight at the startled man. "Stupefy!"

The bolt of red light hit Xavier right smack dab in the chest, effectively knocking the man to the ground, stuck in his ridiculous pose of reaching for his wand and his mouth half opened.

The three persons cautiously came forwards, just in case there was a hidden third companion, but there was none. Two of them stepped forwards, and yanked the hoods off of the two Stupefied men.

"Harold Xavier and Marcus Damien." one spoke with disgust. "Should have known."

At the sound of their names, the men began to stir. Marcus Damien was first to open his eyes, and when he did, he recoiled with fright.

"No."

"Oh, yes." remarked one of his capturers. For Marcus Damien was looking in the eyes of Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

"Up you come, then." said Lupin, roughly yanking the man up. He pushed up the man's sleeve, to find just what he had been expecting. Burning black upon his left forearm was the mark of Voldemort, the mark of the Dark Lord.

"Ah. Exactly what I expected. Marcus Damien, you are charged with conspiracy against the Wizarding World, and sentenced to life in prison. Do enjoy your stay there." stated Lupin with a cold smile upon his face.

Shackles appeared onto Damien's wrists, and onto the still waking Xavier's. Mad-Eye yanked the trembling Death Eater to his feet, grabbed Xavier's shackles, and Disapparated. Tonks followed with Damien, and then Lupin.

The trio Apparated into a dark chamber, along with their two prisoners. Cells lined the walls around them, apparent only by the single door that distinguished one from the other. Tonks and Mad-Eye shoved the two men into separate cells, even as the two Death Eaters struggled against them.

"You'll pay!" screamed Damien right before he was shoved into his cell. "He'll get you!"

"I'm so sure." mumbled Lupin, sealing the two cells with magic. He then turned, nodded to Tonks and Mad-Eye, who, along with wizards Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and witch Emmeline Vance, took up guard of the prison. Lupin headed towards the door, as no one could disapparate out of the prison.

"Pumpkin Pie." he whispered to the door, which then immediately opened. He strode past several other wizards and witches, who were also guarding the prison. Lupin encountered many more doors along the way, and muttered many more passwords before finally reaching the exit.

He stepped out and watched as the portal he had such through shrunk in onto itself, much like the Black house.

Remus Lupin walked the streets for awhile, before finally decided that he had not been followed. Stepping into a nearby telephone booth, which was out of habit, really, more than a precaution, seeing as it was the middle of the night, he Disapparated out of there.

He found himself in front of The Burrow, exactly where he had wanted to end up. He rang the doorbell once. He stood there for what seemed an eternity. He was about to press the doorbell again when a red and teary eyed Molly Weasley answered the door.

"Oh, thanks goodness it's you, Lupin!" she breathed, voice cracking under her sorrow. "We...We-" Tears sprang to her eyes once more and she was no longer able to speak. Concerned and worried, he drew an arm around the crying woman, who was so often a pillar to her family.

"Come now, Molly, we'll go inside and we can..." he voice broke off when he entered the home. The Weasley's home was always disorganised and messy, but it was nothing compared to this...

Broken furniture was strewn about the room, paintings and books littering the ground. Upon the only upright couch sat a shell-shocked Ronald Weasley, a sobbing Hermione Granger and an unconscious Ginny Weasley.

"What-what happened?" stuttered Lupin. "And where's Harry?"

At that, Molly Weasley burst into full-fledged tears and leaned shakily against a nearby wall. Ron, still looking blankly ahead, uttered something under his breath.

"What, Ron?" asked Lupin.

Louder this time, Ron whispered the same words again. "They took him."

"Who's they?!" exclaimed Lupin, frustration and worry making his tone harsher than he had expected.

Ron turned his eyes to him, and with horror, Lupin realized that Ron was not shell-shocked, as he had previously thought; no, the reason why Ron had been staring forwards so readily was that he was blind. The young man's sightless white eyes bored into Lupin's, chilling him to the bone.

"The Shadows..."

And with that, Molly Weasley let out an agonizing scream of pain, followed closely by Hermione's own cry of defeat, as Remus Lupin fell to the floor onto his knees, and wondered what had gone wrong...

*Next chapter to follow. Inform me if you like it, as it definitely speeds up my rate of writing

~Aelan*

P.S: Any mistakes? Please tell me if you see any!