Title: Obolus

Author: Zampersand

Summary: What if Remus Lupin had never been accepted into Hogwarts, and was now on the Ministry's Most Wanted list? What if Sirius Black was a member of the Ministry's Beast Division, specializing in the capture and termination of werewolves?

Posted: October 11, 2009

Author's Notes: No beta, but proofread by me as much as I could. I was nearly tempted to post this in two segments, but here it is in one.

Chapter Four – Roll Over

This was a stupid, stupid idea. Sirius could not believe he was so gullible, and that he had not realized how gullible he was until this very moment. He felt exploited; knowing that those he loved and trusted had used him. He had been gullivized. He was a gullivized gullible man of gullibleness.

"You've taking advantage of me," he said.

"I know."

"You are a horrible person."

"I know, mate, I know."

"I shouldn't be associating with riff raff like you. I should send you away right now, kick you off my property."

"Riff raff?" A dark eyebrow raised. "Since when do you say 'riff raff'? You sound like my grandmother," a pause. "Well, you would if I had ever met my grandmother. I always thought it was old age that caused vocabulary to degenerate into nonoffensive name-calling, though, now I'm wondering if it comes with isolation."

"Hey, step inside the protection barrier."

The other man ignored him. "You really have been away too long. It's the silence; it turns your brain to mush. Worse than that: raisin oatmeal. Your brain is now raisin oatmeal. Which is why I had to come all the way down here just to here this big secret---"

"Oi! Shut up and get inside the protection barrier."

The spectacled man scoffed, "you know, a "hello" would be nice" but made closer to Sirius' quaint cabin anyway, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Where the hell are we, anyway? You call me all the way over to this middle of nowhere town and—"

"No I didn't! I specifically told you not to come."

"Refuse to tell me why. Then the first thing you do is make crazy allegations against by virtue."

"That's not—James, hey, WAIT!!"

"Not a Hey, wonderful to see you mate or a bloody hell, I've missed you but a—" James suddenly stopped, and stood staring at him from the doorway he just opened. "Sirius, why is there a man handcuffed to your couch?"

"That's actually what I was trying to tell you before when—"

"Chains seem to be a fetish of his," a coy voice overrode him.

Too late.

"Are they now?" James asked, while walking into his home. "You know, I've always had a feeling…"

God damn it.

"I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned anything before now. It seems to be a compulsion of his."

Damn it all to hell.

"To tie me up, that is. He's always leaving me chained to things"

Actually, God.

"I'm not surprised. Sirius can be a little controlling."

Never mind.

"I've noticed. I'm Remus, by the way."

Just kill me.

"James Potter."

"HEY! No! Not happening!"

In the brief conversation, the spectacled man had made his way across the room, and was now sitting next to the werewolf. The very very dangerous werewolf But. Sirius' outburst rewarded him with a disgusted look from his friend and a flinch from the other.

"Was there something you wanted to say, Sirius?"James asked, voice suddenly cold. And the look he was giving Sirius was unnerving.

"I—er, James. We need to talk, so I can expla—"

"That sounds like a lovely idea Sirius. Please explain this situation to me."

Sirius for some reason felt the need to explain himself. But first he wanted to get his friend away the werewolf. "I meant in the other room. If you'd just follow me…"

"No, Sirius, I don't think I will just follow you." Sirius was surprised at the speed in which his friendly went from joking to deadly serious. "You can explain to me, right here, right now, why you have an injured man handcuffed to your couch."

"I don't have an injured man handcuffed to anything." Sirius said, exasperated.

James sucked in a long breath and held it before asking "No?"

"I have a dangerous werewolf restrained in my living room. Now, if you'll get off the cou--"

"I am well aware of what he is. Sirius, believe it or not I actually do read the letters you send me. And I'm not an idiot. I can connect the dots. And I have been for ages. Used to do it with a crayon as a lad."

"Then why the hell are you sitting next to him!" Sirius was becoming increasingly agitated by James's lack of concern. "James, please, move away from hi—from it. Get away from it, its not safe."

James was still looking at him in that same unnerving way. "I don't feel as if I'm in any danger." He looked to the werewolf beside him, "do you think this couch is dangerous?"

Remus who had been looking increasingly uncomfortable during the whole exchange, just started at James with his eyebrows drawn up and his mouth slightly agape.

Sirius pulled at his hair, "James, you idiot! Not the couch. I meant the fucking dark creature sitting right there!"

James sighed. "Sirius, I know what you meant. I'm just choosing to ignore how incredibly rude you're being. Now stop bouncing around like an idiot and sit down. You're wound so tight it's making me nervous."

"You should be nervous!" Sirius exploded." You're sitting so close to that monster he could snap your neck before you even blink! James! You don't know what you're doing. I deal with things like him for a living, and you've never even…" Sirius' last word trailed off into an overly long "nnnnn" sound, as he watched James brusquely stand and walk towards him. His friend stood nose to nose with him for a moment, before bodily shoving him down into the armchair. "Oi!" Sirius protested.

"There. Now stay down, and shut up. I'll be right back. "James started to walk out of the living room, towards the bathroom. "And don't even think about moving."

There was silence for a few moments, before Sirius awkwardly stole a glance at the werewolf who was simply staring at the doorway James had just walked through. Neither of them said anything as they listened to the spectacled man move about the cabin.

After an awkward waiting period, James walked back into the room carrying a white case. "You didn't tell me you hadn't put the first aid kit away. It took me a while to find it," he explained as he sat back down on the couch. There were a few tense moments in which Sirius was sure James was just daring him to say something, but then his friendly prattled on in a happy tone that was making him nervous."You know, that bathroom of yours is ridiculously small. You can't even open the door fully without it hitting the toilet. I know it leaves more square meters for the rest of the house, but it still seems ridiculously cramped."

Sirius just watched James search through the medical kit, unsure of how to react to an angry friend who was now discussing the cosmetic issues of the loo.

"So, it's Remus, is it?" The brunet slowly nodded. "Sirius, would you kindly unlock Remus' handcuffs for me?

"WHAT?" Sirius yelped, shooting back onto his feet. "No way in bloody hell am I—"

"Sirius" James warned.

"You're insane." Sirius said with disbelief. "You've gone completely nutters."

Sirius stood in incredulity for a few moments, before he let out an infuriated noise and procured the key. "Fine! But if we both die horrible bloody deaths then I'm going to say I told you so."

Sirius had to lean over the werewolf to undo his bonds, and Sirius shivered at the feeling of breath on his neck. As soon as the bonds were undone the werewolf moved, bumping against Sirius in the process. Sirius quickly stumbled back and drew his wand his wand in defense. But the werewolf just narrowed his eyes and continued to stretch out his arm muscles.

"Better?" James asked the werewolf, who once again nodded slowly staring at James like he'd never seen anything like him.

"Good. Losing the circulation in your arms is now way to get those hands healed. Do you mind if I take a look at them?" Remus just shook his head.

"Good." James repeated.

Sirius had expected the werewolf to look smug about the whole situation, but instead he was just staring at James with a sort of lost expression. The bandaged limb he held out for James was trembling slightly.

As just began his work, he began talking."I can only assume that Remus is here and not…elsewhere, because you have agreed to do something incredibly stupid, Sirius."

"I, err, you see…"

"Don't you dare make any more excuses." James warned."Look, just…just shut up for a minute and let me think, okay?"

James' thinking time lasted much longer than Sirius thought he was going to be able to bare. It was rare that James was this openly hostile towards him. During his school days, they had agreed on nearly everything. He could not believe his luck to have such a brilliant friend. Of course they had their occasional spats, usually when James was being a prat mooning over Lily, but Peter had always been there to smooth things over. But now…now he wasn't. And James and himself seemed to be fighting more and more. Sirius hoped this time it wouldn't be too serious.

When James finally spok again, his words were not even addressed to Sirius. "That arse-wipe has been treating your wounds better than expected. Has hasn't hurt you at all since these, right?"

Remus shook his head, but Sirius was not even sure the lycanthrope had heard the question. Instead, he was blankly staring down at his newly bandaged hands.

"Good. That's good." James appeared to say to himself. Then more loudly he said, "Alright, so if you'll excuse us, I'm just going to go have a talk with Sirius in the other room." He stood, "Sirius, come on."

Sirius stood, but he hesitated. "James, I can't leave him unrestrained and unattended."

"Sirius—"

This time it was the werewolf who interrupted, "It's alright if he puts them back on." He said quietly, "I'd rather he didn't, but if it makes him feel better…"

James rubbed at his temples, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"I'm sure," he nodded resolutely.

"Fine," he said to Sirius, who immediately handcuffed both of the werewolf's hands to the back of the couch.

"We'll just be in the other room," Sirius said pointedly to the werewolf, who already didn't appear to be listening again. He was just staring out the window.

They had barely rounded the corner into the kitchen before James started talking."Sirius, Peter's death has greatly affected us all. But now that he's gone there's nothing we can do about it. Getting yourself killed while trying to find his killer…I thought that becoming a werewolf Hunter was just about the most reckless thing you could possibly do. But to make a deal with a werewolf…"

"So you admit that he's dangerous?" Sirius couldn't help asking.

"Of course he's dangerous, idiot!" James smacked his arm, and Sirius winced. "But it's not because he's a werewolf. You've got a man in there that has been on the run for months. You captured him—"

"Actually," Sirius interrupted. "He turned himself in."

James appeared to puzzle over it for a moment. "Well, in any case, there a man in there with nothing left to lose. You can't just go traveling all of Europe with him, meeting all of his shady acquaintances--"

"So you admit that he's shady?"

"Sirius, don't look so damn smug!" James ground out. "You told me he's been a werewolf years and that he ran away from home as a kid. Where do you think I think an underage werewolf has to go? I'm not an idiot."

"You sure were acting like an idiot." Sirius said, expecting to get smacked again for it.

But no smack came, James just tiredly said, "Sirius, I was being polite. That's what you do when you first meet someone, you be polite.

"Yeah, but you don't have to sit right next to a dangerous dark creature on a couch and then insist we unchain it."

"That's a person in there Sirius! Augh!" James flopped down into one chairs at the table "You know what? I am not having this argument again right now. That's not the point. The point is that you're putting your life in the hands of someone you don't know. Someone with a Ministry warrant on his head."

"That's what I brought you here to talk about! I've got it all worked out." Sirius said, glad that they were finally getting to the point. "I've got this plan that involves tracking amulets. He'll have this collar on him that sends out a signal. And you and I will have these amulets that track the signal, so we'll be able to find him no matter where he is. If I suddenly disappear, all you have to do is hand your amulet over to the Capture Unit and he'll be taken into custody."

James looked doubtful. "How am I going to explain how I just so happen to know where a know fugitive is?"

"James! You're an auror and he's a werewolf. No one is going to care how he came to be captured, just that he was."

"Okay." His friend gave him a funny look. "So what about if you turn up dead or go missing? I'm I just supposed to accept that?"

James looked hurt, and this left Sirius at a loss for words.

"Didn't think that one through, now did you? Sirius, when you die you're going to leave behind people who care for you." James said, voice rising again. "Please just call off this stupid manhunt. You can still just turn him in like you should have in the first place. Then—"

Suddenly, a large cracking sound could be heard from the other room. It sounded almost as if someone was tearing a large branch from a tree. Immediately, both men had their wands drawn and were running into the living room, only to find the cabin door wide open and the couch empty of its past occupant. Or, they found what was left of the antique couch. The entire back where the handcuffs had been attached had been ripped apart.

"I can't believe I thought that would hold him," Sirius said, cursing himself as he ran out the door. Once outside, he looked wildly around hoping to catch a glimpse of the fleeing werewolf. He could hear the sound of crunching underbrush, but it was hard to tell which direction the noise was coming from.

"This way!" James called, running around the side of the cabin.

"Be careful! Even unarmed he's still dangerous!"

"I know!" James grunted at him as they both ran out of the clearing the cabin was in and into the woods. "Get that amulet out! If he gets much further ahead of us he'll be easy to lose."

Of course! Sirius reached into his robe pocket, only to realize the necklaces were not there. He felt his heart plummet into his stomach, trying to think of where they could have gone."Shit! I think he has the tracking amulets!"

"What?!" He was sure James was silently cursing him. "Fine! He's injured, anyway. He's not going to get far."

He could just barely make out a figure clumsily making his way through the woods, but it was there. Even if the werewolf tried to hide now, they'd easily be able to see where he was going. He was fast, but, just as James said, his injured leg seemed to be slowing him down a great deal.

Suddenly, though, the figure disappeared from sight. Sirius' eyes widened in fear and he started into a sprint, hoping to catch sight of the werewolf again.

"Sirius! Wait!" James said, grabbing hold of his arm to slowing them both down to a near stop .Sirius continued to try to drag him along.

"James! What do you think you're doing!?" Sirius violently attempted to jerk his arm out of his friend's grip, "He's going to get away!"

"Just stop! Take a look where you're going!" James shouted desperately, grabbing onto his arm even tighter."

Sirius doubtfully came to a complete halt, just itching to continue the chase. The forest was suddenly very silent, outside the sounds of their heavy breathing. Strangely, Sirius didn't even hear the sound of the lycanthrope escaping off into the distant woods.

"You were about to run off a ledge." James said, the relief evident in his voice. Sirius looked forward, not seeing anything but green on green. Carefully and much more slowly Sirius made his way forward, and he was shocked to see that the earth did indeed simply come to an end. He peered over the edge to find a short drop. 'The ledge' wasn't as bad as he originally had feared, and he could actually make his way down it if he were to simply sit and slide himself down it. But if he had gone barreling through like he had planned….ouch.

At the bottom of the drop was lay Remus, who was apparently experiencing that ouch.

Sirius quickly, and with as much dignity as he could muster, sat on his butt and made his way down the ledge. As he got closer to the werewolf, he could hear that he was making a sort of high pitched whining noise.

"Alright," Sirius said irritably when he got to the bottom. "Was that worth it? Now you're even more injured and---hey! No you don't!" Sirius quickly caught hold of the lycanthrope who was trying to crawl away and flipped him over onto his back. And the werewolf Hunter could only watch in horror as the brunet curled onto his side and hid his face in his arms, repeating "no, no, no, please, no" in between great sobbing gasps for breath.

Sirius hesitated, his anger suddenly dissipated, and was at a complete loss of what to do. Werewolves were supposed to fight tooth and nail to get away, not…this."No, hey, don't do that. Come on…" He said while trying to move the werewolf's arms he could see his face. But the only response this got was the wolf curling in tighter on himself. Sirius had no idea how to react to this, and looked up at James for help. His friend only shook his head sadly and shrugged, looking as out of place as he felt.

"Hey! Hey" Sirius tried again, sitting down next to the werewolf. This was ridiculous, the lycanthrope was shaking like he knew the end was coming. "We aren't going to hurt you, Remus "Sirius couldn't stand to see anyone so afraid of him. "You got yourself into this mess, remember? If you had just stayed—"

"If I had just stayed you were going to turn me over to the Ministry!" The brunet suddenly cried, trying to distance himself from the Hunter with a grimace. "W-We had a deal, and you lied to me! Y-you were just gonna—"

"No! I wasn't "just gonna"." Sirius said, suddenly angry again. "Besides, what are you so freaked about, anyway? You turned yourself in so I could hand you over to the Ministry!"

"That was before!" Remus cried, and continued backing away from Sirius until his back hit the ledge he had fallen from. "That was before I knew they were going to charge me with attacking a Ministry official's child. Now they'd…"Remus stopped talking as he hid his face in his arms again.

Sirius let out an maddened sound, "Don't do that!" He started toward Remus again, but James stopped him.

"Sirius," he whispered, "let me try." He knelt down next to the brunet, speaking gently. "Remus, Sirius was never going to go back on his deal and turn you over to the Ministry."

The werewolf didn't lift his head and spoke with a muffled voice. "I may be a monster but I'm not stupid. I could hear you talking, you know. You want him to turn me in."

"Yes, I think that would be in Sirius' best interests," James admitted. "But Sirius is a stubborn bastard that never would have listened to me. It was just wishful thinking on my part to try to get him to do anything else."

Remus lifted his head, looking resigned as he gazed up at James through his hair, "Why should I believe you?"

"You have no reason to trust us. But we aren't lying to you."

Remus' turned his gaze to the forest as he muttered, seemingly to himself. "Never trust a human."

"What?" James asked, it didn't seem like he heard him.

Shaking his head, Remus hid is face again. "Nothing. Do whatever you want with me, I don't care."

Sirius frowned at that, but, not knowing what else to do, stepped forward. "We're going to have to get back to the cabin. Can you stand?"

The werewolf nodded, "I'm fine."

Apparently, Remus' definition of fine, while it did indeed allow him to stand on his own, ended with Sirius half carrying him back to the cabin. Sirius hadn't realized quite how long the chase had lasted at the time, but it was nearly dusk by the time they arrived back at the cabin and got a fire started.

Sirius was in the kitchen fixing something to eat, when James walked in from the bedroom. "How is he?" Sirius asked.

"Staring at the wall" James replied. "He says he doesn't want any supper."

"Oh."

"I got the amulets back from him," James said as he held them both up by their chains. "I'm going to wear mine, and I suggest you do the same. He's good, yeah? We were both trained to detect that kind of stuff, and I didn't even notice when he took these. He's says he grabbed them from your pocket when you were uncuffing him, though.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "I figured as much. That's the only time I've been close enough to give him the chance."

James finally asked after an awkward silence. 'What would happen to Remus if you were to turn him in? What is he so afraid of?"

Sirius shrugged, "He would know better than I would, actually. Don't look so horrified. I just capture werewolves; I don't dole out the punishments. But he'd be a werewolf charged with the assault of a Ministry official's kid…Remus wasn't far off the mark when he said it would be extreme."

"And extreme would be…?"

"I don't know, okay!" Sirius took dinner off of the stove, turning so he could watch his friend. "We're war, James. The people and government have been living for fear for years, and our system has gotten pretty fucked up. Even I'll admit that some of the werewolves I take in don't deserve what happens to them."

"Then why do you do it?"

"We've been over this! You know very well why!"

James threw up his hands in defense, "Fine! Fine fine fine. I'm just making sure that you still remember why you're doing this. Don't want you to get lost. That's why good friends do, yeah?" James stood up, "Anyway, I can't stay any longer. I told Lily I'd be home for dinner, and I can't be late. Leaving the house worries her enough as it is."

Sirius took a calming breath. "Of course mate" Walking over to James, he gripped his friend's shoulder. "Thanks for coming out…even though I specifically told you not to. It was really good seeing you."

James threw the hand off of his shoulder and pulled Sirius into a tight hug, slapping him on the back, "It's been too long."

Sirius couldn't help but grin. "Take care of that family of yours." He said seriously.

"Always," James nodded stepping back. "Watch your back, okay?" He looked like he wanted to elaborate, but instead he turned and walked to the door. "Oh. One more thing, Sirius. Talk to him. He's seriously freaked about something. I…never mind Just be careful."

Sirius wanted to ask him what he was going to say, but James had already walked out of the cabin. He was more than a little apprehensive about being left alone with the werewolf again. Especially now that he was so…docile. Sirius had no idea how to deal with this. For some reason he cared that the werewolf was feeling insecure, and that made Sirius uncomfortable. It was just a werewolf, right? A dark creature whose word could not be trusted. So it didn't matter that they had made a deal, Sirius should just turn the dangerous werewolf into the Ministry whenever he needed to. This crazy plan of his was beginning to look far too unpredictable and dangerous.

As soon as Sirius walked into his bedroom and saw the unmoving figure lying on his side with the back to the door, such thoughts fell away. He placed both plates of dinner on the bedside table for the moment, and sat down on the bed next to the werewolf. There was no response or acknowledgment that the lycan had even noticed that he entered the room.

"How're you feeling?" Sirius asked, unsure of how else to start a conversation.

The werewolf shrugged.

"James said that you're pretty freaked out about something."

The werewolf didn't move.

"What are you so afraid of?" Great job. Barreling headfirst into this conversation is the way to do it.

"You." Oh. Maybe it was.

"Me?" Sirius was honestly confused. "What do you mean me? You seemed pretty comfortable before today, what changed?"

"Before I thought I'd be safe for a little while. Even if you didn't keep your end of the deal," He thinks I'm the untrustworthy one? "I'd at least have a few more months to think of a way out of this while I helped you. But you're thinking of turning me in right now…" He drew his knees up to his chest.

"I was never thinking of turning you in. I—"

Remus put his hands over his ears, "Stop lying! You gave the amulet to an auror! Not only that, but a Potter. There's no way you ever intended to let me go!"

"Hey, hey don't do that." When Sirius tried to move Remus' hands from his ears, but he werewolf flinched away. "Okay! I was thinking about it, okay? But I'm not going to do it. And James has the amulet because he's my best mate, I trust him with my life. He'll do what I ask. And I'm going to ask him not to turn you in. You're my last hope, Remus. Becoming a Hunter and questioning every werewolf with a warrant on his head has gotten me nowhere. They guy I'm looking for is obviously too smart to get caught. I need you, okay? With you helping me I'll be able to get into places and question people I never could before. So there's no way I could just turn you in now."

"I'm your token to get into hell." The werewolf muttered, and Sirius didn't think he was meant to have heard. "So what's to keep you from double crossing me at the end of all this?"

"What's to keep you from double crossing me in the middle of all this."

He could hear the frown in the other's voice."You know, answering a question with a question is really obnoxious."

"I know," Sirius smiled. "I guess we are going to have to put a little faith in each other, yeah?"

Remus sighed loudly. "Do you know how idiotic you sound? A werewolf and a werewolf Hunter having "faith" in each other?"

"Pretty dumb, huh?" Sirius was grinning now.

Remus began rolling off of his side toward Sirius, but stopped with a grunt of pain.

Sirius frowned; he couldn't help but feel concerned. "How bad is it?"

Remus wrinkled his nose, "Well, it was kind of the equivalent of doing a belly flop into a pool without any water."

"Ah," Sirius winced, thinking that he should probably take the werewolf to see a doctor in the morning. The silver burns would be pretty hard to explain, but he had enough money to pay someone off… "Anyway, I brought you some food. I probably overcooked it for you: its medium rare. But I even cut it up into little pieces so you didn't have to."

"Aww, gee thanks 'ma." Remus said while sitting up, but at least he was smiling again.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Shut up and eat your dinner."

To be continued . . .