Lotte: Okay. I've had this amazing case of writer's block, so basically, I haven't written ANYTHING AT ALL in several months. I'm terribly sorry for this, but let's hope I'm getting better now, eh?

Alex: I haven't been writing much either, really. I've got a life to consider, and I feel it is a little more important than writing fanfiction, actually.

Lotte: Isn't she odd? How could anything be more important that that? Anyway, here it is. Chapter five. Nice, huh? And oh, I should warn sensitive readers. It's quite violent and nasty. We tried to tone it down a bit, but still. Just so you know.

Alex: Enjoy.

xxx

Chapter Five

Wolf hunt

"Oh Vivica, I wish you well;

I'll sit right here, I'll never tell.

No tender scar, no twist of fate

will save you now.

He'll never change, he's just not there,

he'll never say you're beautiful.

Oh Vivica, I wish you well, I really do…"

- Jack off Jill, Vivica

xxx

Severus Snape refused to speak to the Aurors. He found a bitter, twisted kind of amusement in the fact that suddenly, the only ones he really trusted were James and Peter, his previous tormentors from school.

Trembling, he sat beside Peter in the Potter family sofa, his face a mask of badly hidden fear. Mrs. Potter had fended off the Aurors wanting to question him, holding back a hysteric Mrs. Black with the strength of her own arms, and had left it to her son and his friend to interview Severus about what he had seen. With the annoying habit of grownups, she assumed that they were all friends, being boys in the same age and going to school together. But Severus didn't feel tongue-tied with inexplicable dread when Peter spoke to him, nor did he feel trapped and ready to throw up from sheer panic as soon as James would ask him a question, so it worked surprisingly well.

"Where did you see him, Sn- Severus?" James, who was perched on the armrest, began. He sounded a bit uncertain; he did not know if the other boy would snarl at him for using his first name. But Severus didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were distant and slightly unfocused, his hands trembling as they picked with the folds of his robe.

"In the forest. I don't know exactly where. Some distance away from my house. Eastward, I think." His voice was cracked and he slurred a bit as he spoke.

"But where was he?" James demanded, a bit impatiently. "Have you spoken to him?"

Severus shook his head. "No. He was… a prisoner."

"Prisoner?" James looked frightened, but far from surprised. This was, after all, exactly what they had feared and expected.

"Yes. There were renegade werewolves there. A whole camp full of them."

"How do you know about renegades, boy?" one of the Aurors snapped. Severus flinched, as if someone had tried to hit him, and stared in the opposite direction, his lips trembling as he clamped them shut.

"How did you know they were werewolves?" Peter asked carefully. He was a bit shocked to find that he felt sorry for Snape, but when he thought about it, he didn't find it that strange, after all. Anyone capable of reading the signals that Severus was sending out, signals reminiscent of those of a terrified animal, would feel pity for him.

"I've read books" the black-robed boy answered after a long pause. "I studied extra on Defence Against the Dark Arts."

And not only on Defence Against the Dark Arts, thought Peter wryly. He saw that James smiled bleakly for the shortest of moments, and figured he must be thinking the same thing.

"So the werewolves were keeping him prisoner. Did you see his brother?"

Severus looked confused. "I don't know. I thought Black's brother was only eight or nine or so…"

"Seven" said Mr. Black harshly. James looked at him warningly as Severus recoiled, and he turned his face away.

"You didn't see Regulus…" Peter prompted, touching the shoulder of the other boy in the sofa, very softly.

"I… I barely know what he looks like." Severus was trembling more violently now. "I saw a group of children there, but I didn't take much notice of them…" He huddled helplessly, as if trying to hide from view. "But… but that could be why Black was there. If they took his brother… He is stupid enough to have gone after on his own." A bit of the old Severus snuck into his voice for a short moment, but then he suddenly shrunk away from Peter and James, as if he was sure they were going to hit him. Peter felt sick, sick with a really bad – and well-earned – conscience. That's how we normally act, isn't it? And this time as well, James' expression mirrored exactly what he felt.

"Yeah, you're right" the bespectacled boy said, his voice soft and almost friendly. "That's just the thing that Siri would do, that is. Rushing off without thinking. Trying to save someone he cares for and getting into the same trouble himself instead."

"My son is… very careless by nature" Mr. Black muttered roughly. The Aurors were watching them, as they each nodded in affirmation.

"Very well" said a stately-looking young witch. "Let us assume that Mr. Regulus Black was kidnapped, as is the custom of the beasts. He will probably have been bitten by now" – when she said this, Mrs. Potter had to bring Mrs. Black out of the room, as she was crying so loudly that they could not hear properly – "but I shouldn't think that the same thing has happened to his brother. Did he see any bite marks on him?" she asked, turning directly to James and Peter, who passed it on to Severus.

The young man shook his head. "No. No. And they haven't bitten him. They treated him like an animal of some sorts. Not like he was one of them."

The witch nodded. "Then he has not been bitten, at least. But why have they kept him alive for so long?"

And images and sounds flashed through Peter's mind, memories of the visions that had tortured him. The sound of Sirius screaming with pain, whimpering, crying, pleading, begging, retching… A cold sweat broke out over his body, the room felt like the air had been sucked out, and he fought back an urge to throw up.

"…raping him…" He forced the words over lips that seemed numb. The Auror looked at him.

"Pardon?" she said.

"I… just an idea" Peter said, trying to speak without his voice cracking, something he completely failed at. "Sirius is… well, handsome. Maybe they think he is… amusing." He closed his eyes. "You know, torturing him, mocking him, doing… other stuff. Sexual stuff. For… fun…" He could see Sirius' face before his eyes, the face that very rarely was seen without a huge grin, a to-die-for face with eyes that almost constantly glittered with mischief. He wanted badly to cry, but the tears would not come.

James thought about the aches all over his body he had been getting, especially the dull, throbbing ache around his rectum, and he wanted to murder someone.

"It is… possible" another one of the Aurors conceded. "Many werewolves have been known to show sadistic impulses toward humans."

"How did Sirius Black look when Mr. Snape saw him?" the witch demanded, looking at the youths in the sofa. Peter didn't seem capable of speech at the time, but James repeated the question to Severus with a voice that quivered with rage and pain.

"Starved. Cold, he has no proper clothes. Broken. Whatever they have done to him… it must be pretty damn awful to have crushed him like that." Severus swallowed; he hated having to remember this. He wanted never ever to think about it again. "I saw one of them kick him. He, the werewolf, was laughing. Seemed to find it amusing." He looked up, for the first time looking directly at James and Peter. "Black replied by spitting at him" he said softly, with reluctant respect in his voice. Peter and James, tears in their eyes, bowed their heads. That was the Sirius they knew. Stupidly brave to the bitter end.

The stately witch's voice shattered the moment. "Alright, we cannot be dawdling here. We're going after them immediately. Er… Mr. Snape will have to show us where he lives, and the direction he was walking in. The rest will be taken care of by Aurors. We'll organize a searching party immediately."

Severus stood up, and so did James and Peter. The witch looked sternly at them.

"We will not bring children…" she began, at the same time as Mr. Potter said: "Under no conditions are you going to…"

"Dad!" James interrupted. "We were not thinking about going with them, okay. We'll just follow to Severus' house. If that's okay" he added to Severus, realising that it was quite rude to invite himself and Peter. The other young man simply nodded, his face shadowed by his hair, so that they could not read his expression.

The witch looked between the three boys, and nodded curtly. "Very well. Let's go."

xxx

As the sun dipped to hide behind the horizon, painting the sky a vibrant red, Remus stood outside the shelter where the human was kept. He kept his head bowed, so he would not have to see the inquisitive looks that the rest of the pack were sending him. It was enough that Fenrir had told the dominant males about his shame; he would not let on anything to the rest of them. He would keep up this strong, proud façade, for tonight he desperately needed strength, or even the mere semblance of it.

Inside, he could feel his wolf side raging, and a painful rent had opened in his soul, separating the wolf from the weaker form. Fighting against something that was a part of him, entwined so tightly with what he was that there was no telling where one ended and the other began… it was the ultimate feeling of vulnerability, as if his mind was an open, bleeding wound and someone was plunging their fist into it.

A hand landed on the small of his back, pushing him forward. He knew that the contact was meant to make him feel more at ease, for it was the admonishment of a misbehaving cub rather than the punishment of a grown wolf. And that was why he pulled away from the touch, snarling. He could not stop this from happening, but at least he could save what pride he had left.

Bloodbane, Greyback's mate, recoiled slightly from this reaction, but then bared her teeth and gave him a swipe over the cheek, leaving four raised red veldts as a reminder of than even her short human claws were sharp. The disgust burning in her eyes told Remus that she had been told, and she confirmed this by giving him a brutal shove, sending him through the entrance of the shelter. "Abomination" he heard her hiss, before the light of the outside was suddenly cut off. Fenrir had dropped a deer-skin in front of the opening, making sure that no one would see what happened inside.

Remus sobbed with relief. At the same time, another sob erupted from the other side of the room, a sharp heartrending sound that communicated blind terror. Remus lifted his head and his gaze met that of the human. In the gloom, with the creature's face shining so white, the eyes had lost their silver shine to instead open into vast, yawning depths of darkness, sucking at the gaze and forcing it to lose itself in the void. And the otherwise moonlight-perfect features of the creature were contorted into an almost childlike mask of fear, somehow grotesque in its semblance of shattered innocence.

And Remus, unable to help it, felt his eyes sting with tears of sympathy. He felt his muscles spasm as he tried to prevent himself from flinging his body between his mate and the other males. He felt his heart shrink with self-loathing as he quivered and turned his head away, so sickened by what he had seen that he could stand it no more.

He received a quite hard shove from Blackrage, and Icepaw growled at him. "You will watch" Greyback told him in a low, terrible tone of voice.

"Just kill it" Remus pleaded. "Just kill the miserable thing. I… hate… it…" There was a faint whimper from the human, fear, exhaustion and despair mingling in the small sound. Remus choked down a pained howl.

"Then you won't mind our games with it, surely" came the mocking reply. "You should enjoy seeing it."

"The… wolf… minds…" Remus panted. He had now sunken to his knees, his fingers clawing spasmodically at the ground to keep him from attacking his own pack-mates.

"It is your own weakness that has brought this upon your stronger form. You are responsible for this."

"I know" Remus whimpered, cringing and shivering. "Oh, please, yes I know so just kill the horrible thing and then punish me…"

"Seeing your mate being played with is your punishment, Moony." Fenrir looked almost regretful. "The pain is necessary. It might even make the separation easier."

By these words, Blackrage lifted the human bodily from the floor and threw him. Redclaw caught him with a bark of laughter and clamped his strong arms around him. The human was screaming now, helpless pleas for help, for mercy, barely intelligible as he sobbed and shook uncontrollably with fear. Blackrage didn't even seem to notice how the human fought for his freedom, as he tore off the sad scraps of clothing that was all that protected the human's frail body from the cold.

Terrible sounds were erupting from the human's throat; sharp, shuddering, shrill and breathless. Remus felt his body being slowly wrenched out of his own control as he watched his mate's tear-streaked face contort into a mask of pain and humiliation, as Blackrage did something he couldn't quite see, but felt, like an echo of his mate's feelings.

And he leapt.

xxx

James stumbled, coughing and blinking, out of the fireplace and into what appeared to be a sitting room. He turned around just in time to catch Peter as he was propelled out after him. Severus arrived just seconds later, stepping out with silent, stern grace.

"A terrible way to travel" he remarked as he brushed ash off his clothes, and he sounded almost normal by now. But James had been made more sensitive by stress and fear, and was enough in tune with the other boy's emotions to notice the small cracks in the façade, where panic almost thick enough to touch was leaking out.

"I'd give my right hand for self-control like that" Peter mumbled in his ear, smiling bleakly. James tried to smile encouragingly in return, but only managed a tired grimace.

"Let's hope you won't lose any hands in a while, Pete. You might need them yet. When Sirius gets here."

"If he does, James."

"When he does." James' face was set in hard, determined lines, and Peter thought to himself that he was happy that he was his friend. It made things a little bit less hard. And maybe he imagined it, but he thought he saw Severus throwing a quick, jealous glance at them both. He hoped he had imagined it. He felt rotten enough as it was.

The Aurors were already standing around in a tight circle, and a tall man with a mane of grizzled, greying hair was barking orders at them. The stately-looking witch signalled at Severus to come closer. Without intending it, the young man glanced over his shoulder to James and Peter, feeling insecure and confused and hating himself for it. A strong hand landed on his shoulder, and Potter was looking at him, almost calm as he said:

"We're not leaving. Go on."

And even though he shook the hand off and turned haughtily away, Severus still felt a lot better, as disgusting as it was to think of. He seemed incapable of gaining his old composure, of gathering strength and pushing his soul back into the ice. Seeing a dying person apparently did that to you.

He told the Aurors in which direction he had been walking, his voice low and at some points breaking, as he forced himself to speak even though he just wanted to curl up somewhere and never utter a single word again. He couldn't look them in the eye.

No, he didn't know exactly where they were. He had just been walking aimlessly. No, he hadn't made sure that he would find his way back, sorry. He had panicked. Been frightened. He didn't even remember running. Everything was just… blackness. A big, empty, blood-tasting blackness.

"Come on. Give him a break. He doesn't know anything else."

And now Potter was standing by his side, arms crossed over his chest so that the Aurors couldn't see how his hands were trembling. Pettigrew was standing on his other side, quiet as usual, but with rare determination making his face look… older. Severus felt like crying, but bit it down. Not now. Not here. Not so people can see it. Later. When it is all over, when I am alone. Later.

"What the devil is going on here?!"

Severus' world crumbled.

The Aurors, James and Peter turned around to see a man standing in the doorway. He was swaying a bit, his eyes bloodshot, and his skin was shining with the sweating, unhealthy pallor of the heavily hung-over.

"Can someone tell me what the hell you are all doing in my house? Answer me!" His words were a bit slurred, his voice coarse and raw, but the unreasonable anger in his eyes was hot like an anvil and sharp as a knife.

The man that apparently was leading the Aurors stepped forward. "My name is Alastor Moody, sir, and we are Aurors."

The man's gaze became bewildered, and then it fixed on Severus, who still had not turned around, but was staring stiffly at the opposite wall, and he roared with rage. "What have you told them, you miserable brat?!" he howled, and before even one of the Aurors had time to blink, he charged.

"STUPIFY!"

Severus' father was hit in the chest by an explosion of red light and flew backwards, his arms spread wide. He hit a wall with a crash, and then sunk to the floor, still as a dummy. Peter and James looked at each other. They both had their wands out, pointing at where Mr Snape had been standing a moment before.

"We might" Peter mumbled "have exaggerated that one the tiniest bit."

Alastor Moody, who had been staring at the drunkard with apparent loathing, gave a small, grim bark of laughter. "Well done, boys." Then he turned to the rest of the Aurors. "And what are you all standing around for?! We have two kids captured by werewolves, and the life of one of them is ticking away as we stand here! MOVE!"

xxx

Remus had his arms held back by Fenrir, struggling futilely against his grasp. His body felt strange. Stronger. Heavier. His nails were prolonging, growing thicker and pointier, curling into claws. His mind was an iron-tasting, blood-coloured inferno. He tried to say something, but he found that he could no longer articulate anything more complicated than a growl. He forced his lips into the shape of the words 'Let go', but his throat felt like it belonged to something that only could howl.

"Moony." The voice of his pack leader in his ear was low, controlled. "Moony, listen to me. It is human. It is prey. It has no worth. Remember everything you have learned here. Remember what you are. Don't fight us for it. It's not worth it."

There was a part of Remus that didn't understand the words, that just heard meaningless noises, but the full moon was far off and this part was not as strong as it might have been. Inch by painful inch, Remus regained control of his body. He became limp in Fenrir's iron grasp.

"There. That's good." Fenrir's grip loosened a bit. "Now…"

Remus sank his teeth into his hand.

His teeth had also changed, had gone sharp and long, the teeth of a carnivore. His jaw was stronger. He felt them sinking into the flesh and the bone, felt the taste of blood, and heard his pack leader howl with rage and pain, but that didn't matter anymore. He was free.

His muscles tensed and he sprang, hitting Blackrage in the chest with both hands and forcing him backwards. One flailing hand found the other male's genitals, burrowed its claws and twisted. Blackrage screeched in agony and stumbled backwards, and Remus put his foot down hard in his stomach. Blackrage passed out, and Remus spun around.

Icepaw was staring at him in outrage and shock. Redclaw was still fighting to hold the human still. "GET HIM!" he roared at his stricken brother, and he dropped the human and took a step toward Remus.

There was a flash of whiteness, as a bolt of uncontrolled, lethal magic left the human. Redclaw was lifted off his feet and into the air, spinning madly in a rage of magical flames. The stench of burned flesh filled the air.

Remus saw the eyes of the human rolling, the whites of his eyes shining for a moment in the gloom, before he collapsed forward. And then Icepaw was over him, trying to pin him down, his face twisted by grief and mad fury. And even though Remus clawed and bit and twisted, he knew that he would lose. He was hardly more than a cub, he didn't have a chance against a grown male, not like this.

He heard angry voices, heard the howls, growls and screeches of the rest of the pack. And then something hard hit him over his right temple.

Unconsciousness was immediate.

xxx

Remus woke up by someone hitting him over the face. Pain exploded in his head, his eyes rolled madly and he groaned. Spitting out blood and trembling from shock and a strange coldness, he looked up to see a crescent moon grinning down at him like so many white teeth. Huge shadows were gathered around him. Fenrir's voice came out of the darkness.

"Corruption" it growled mercilessly. "Like a canker eating at a tree, like rottenness turning a flower to dust, like worms eating at a carcass. You are a weakness, a rotten limb, an imperfection. You will be eliminated, to prevent your pervertion from destroying others. Do you understand me?"

Remus whined quietly, and was rewarded with a kick in the ribs. "SILENCE!" someone roared, and the cry was echoed by a hundred other voices, as the rest of the Pack joined in to mock, to condemn, to scream in nameless fury.

Somewhere, he heard children crying, and he recognised Regulus' voice among them, screaming a high-pitched, desperate plea. Bloodbane's voice rose in the shadows, full of anger and scorn.

"Look! Look! He has turned our very cubs against us! So let him die with his unnatural mate!"

Fighting his way up through the hailstorm of blows, Remus managed to pull himself up on his knees, and looked around. The human was bound by the hands, hanging face-down from a low branch. He could see the silver eyes flickering, the lips silently mouthing, the feet uselessly scraping the dirt, and the chest heaving as he desperately fought for every mouthful of air. But there appeared to be no strength in his body to do anything else. And even though he knew for certain he was going to die, Remus felt a sudden mad urge to throw his own body at the pack members that were tormenting him, poking him with sharp sticks until he bled, throwing stones at him.

Instead he crawled, inch by inch, until he was beside the human, trying vainly to shield him as much as he could with his own body. What was left of what he had once been wanted to tear the hateful creature apart with his own hands. But you couldn't hurt a mate. And as he saw the tears of quiet gratitude in the human's eyes, he knew that this was the only thing he could do. This was the only thing he could be.

He could hear the outrage of the others, but that didn't matter anymore. He lifted his gaze to the moon and covered his eyes in homage. "Let us hunt… in another world…" he whispered, as he remembered Fenrir doing over the dying of the pack. A screech of rage told him someone had heard, and a rock hit him painfully in the forehead. He turned his gaze down to find the thrower. As he did, he noticed something strange in the forest. Fleeting shadows, dark against the darkness, yet moving in the unmistakable way of…

"Humans!"

He drew breath to shout a warning at his pack, but it was too late. Light, red and yellow and some few bursts of green, exploded in the forest. One of the pack members fell backwards, his head colliding heavily with Remus'.

No, Remus thought, but the darkness took him away.

xxx

Alex: Don't you just LOVE cliff-hangers?

Lotte: Yes, people. It is entirely possible that she is the devil.