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Imperius by Pallas

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40: Caged

A nightmare wrought in iron, stone and blood. His nightmare. That was Level One.

Remus could remember hearing of the Feral Institute as a child, a poisoned threat from the lips of a malicious secretary at the Werewolf Registry “ “misbehave, and that’s where they’ll send you,” she’d whispered viciously, “…and lock you up in a cage forever like the animal you are.” His mother had pitched a fit when she’d realised what the woman had said but the damage had already been done, the seed firmly planted and lodged within his brain and short of the perils of memory charming, there was nothing that could be done to remove it. A child’s imagination was a wonderful tool and bereft of youthful company by his condition, Remus had honed his more than most in order to keep his young mind occupied within near isolation. But now, haunted by those words, his imagination had turned upon him, no longer a companion but a menace that had conjured not the safe play of childish games but dark rooms filled with bars and chains and blood, hard-eyed men with whips and wands and row upon row of cages into which he was hurled and left to rot, stripped of family and freedom forever.

It had been weeks before he had slept through the night.

It had been thirty years since those long, terrified nights. But all that childhood horror seemed to flood back into Remus’ wolfish body as he stared in at his nightmares made flesh.

It stank of blood. The room, long and dark and narrow, was an oversized corridor that slunk away in both directions to vanish back around shadowy corners perhaps twenty yards away. But this was no simple passage, a fact made clear by the pedestals of stone neatly spaced at three-yard intervals and each crowned by a constricting cage made stable by a web of chains linked into the walls and floor. And though it was lit only dimly, that faint light was enough to illuminate the splatters of reddish brown, both faded and alarmingly fresh that tinged the walls and stone floor slabs. Though a clear effort had at least been made to cleanse the older marks a little, it seemed that some stains simply defied removal.

The old stains must have been pre-Wolfsbane. But the reason for the new was just as clear.

For many of the cages were occupied. And the residents were not at rest.

The air burned with their cries, with snarls and snaps and anguished howling as cage after cage rocked and rolled with the bruising impact of claw against metal, limbs against bars as the untamed werewolves battled with the power of the moon. Perhaps left alone in an isolated room, the doses of Wolfsbane consumed earlier in the week might have helped to calm them. But they were not alone; surrounded by their fellows just out of fighting reach and with the scent of man, of patrolling Death Eaters and new arrivals, raging through the chamber like a wildfire in dry brush, there was no chance for the human mind to even whisper in their fury. Blood and fur splattered and sprayed as teeth and claws ripped into the bars, into the chains and into their own fragile flesh in a desperate bid to expel the darkened rage within. If their cages had been larger, if they had had something, anything but the unbreakable bars and themselves upon which to vent their urges…

But they didn’t.

The werewolves of the Institute were quite literally tearing themselves to pieces.

And, short of praying that by some miracle all would somehow survive the night, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

He felt a far more human rage rising within his lupine body. Dolph was going to pay for this. And pay dearly…

A gentle hand touched the nape of his neck, soft breath whispering words against his ear as fingers stroked soothing circles in his fur. “You’re growling.” Tonks’ voice was all but inaudible against the backdrop of howling and clanking as she crouched beside him, shrouded in the shadows and her disillusionment charm as they waited together behind a fortuitously empty cage just inside the doorway of the grim room. To his sensitive nose, her skin was reeking of a potent combination of fear, anger and determination. “I know how you feel but…”

“They’ll be coming soon.” Harry’s tense whisper rippled out of the empty air to their right, silencing Tonks instantly “ the Auror released her touch against his neck as she dropped into a poised crouch, her wand gripped firmly between her fingers of her right hand and Remus’ grasped in her left, her movements sensed rather than seen against the ripple of shadows as she waited to cast the spells that would make or break their plans. Harry had been keen to try his hand but Tonks had firmly overruled him “ where non-verbal combat magic was concerned, hers was the hand of experience and they could not afford mistakes.

It had seemed a simple enough plan, made in a quiet corner of the stairwell just a few minutes before. According to Harry’s scouting, the six Death Eaters assigned to watch over the werewolves were patrolling the long dormitory-like square of the transformation chamber in twos at intervals of between five and ten minutes. All were clearly uncomfortable with their duty and distinctly on edge around their caged and frantic charges and so getting the drop on them would theoretically not be much of a challenge; provided both Death Eaters in a pair could be taken down silently and instantly. If they succeeded, the plan would be easy and safe. If they failed…

Failure would be messy.

Once more, he felt the gentle touch of Tonks’ fingers against his fur. Her voice, when it came, was filled with apology.

“I’m sorry, Remus,” she whispered. “But it’s time.”

Remus breathed deeply. Calm, Remus. Calm. It won’t be locked. You won’t be trapped. It’s just for a minute and you agreed to this

They had needed a distraction. That much had been certain. And when Hermione had tentatively suggested this course, Remus had seen the value of it. The Death Eaters feared the werewolves; it was time to highlight that fear. And he was the perfect target for the attention of their enemies. After all, he was the only member of the party immune from being cursed.

Silencing the hinges with a quick wave of her wand, Tonks reached and gently prized the back door of the empty cage open. Bracing himself carefully, Remus poised, leapt and dragged himself quickly inside. He felt rather than heard the door drop shut behind him.

Remus had never been claustrophobic. It wasn’t a good time to start.

The bars loomed around him, images from childhood nightmares. They almost seemed to close on down towards him, giant fingers locking him within their grasp...

It isn’t locked. It isn’t locked. It isn’t locked

“Here!” Hermione’s hiss made him start “ almost instinctively he recoiled as something black and fleshy was shoved through the bars against his nose. “Chew on it. And look threatening!”

The overpowering aroma of strawberry cream and banana wafted against his sensitive muzzle. A sticky looking finger lolled out of the rough cradle of black material.

It was fairly repulsive, really. But at the same time, Remus couldn’t escape the sense that making a fake arm out of an engorged piece of Fred and George’s Tongue Tangling Thousand Taste Chewing Gum and wrapping it in Ron’s ripped up black school robes in order to fool a pair of Death Eaters into thinking he’d eaten one of their friends was somehow very Marauderish.

Piercing, infuriated howls began to rise from just around the corner to their left. Chains clinked and battered against their rings.

Something was upsetting the werewolves.

And nothing upset a werewolf more than a human they couldn’t reach.

The vague, disillusioned hint of Tonks shrank into the shadows behind his cage. There was no sign of the three teenagers at all.

Better and better.

A dim light appeared against the wall. And against the backdrop of werewolf cries, Remus’ keen ears caught the sound of voices.

“…don’t know where they’ve got to.” The voice belonged to a woman, nasal and wheezy. “I’m sure Gibbon said the others would be along to help us by now.”
The man’s voice that replied was equally unpleasant and just slightly on the bitter side. “Maybe it was good sport, Alecto” he replied nastily. “There were an awful lot of them in there. It would probably take even a werewolf a while to chew up that many bodies.”

The woman “ Alecto apparently - snorted. “I’ll bet it was funny though. All of those idiots screaming and crying and trying to climb the walls…”

The man gave a wheezy giggle in response. “For all the good it’ll have done them…”

Remus could feel his hackles rising almost instinctively. His muzzle curled around his teeth in a rumbling growl.

He could see them more clearly now, two lumpy-looking figures rounding the corner by the light of the man’s outstretched wand, walking not side by side but one behind the other as they fought to keep themselves and their limbs as far away from their snapping, snarling charges as they could. The man came first, the dance of light and shade from his illumination casting his face in a hideous lopsided leer with the woman a few steps behind, her features so similar that they could only be siblings. Remus allowed himself a brief moment to pity their poor parents for producing such a brood.

But only a moment. He had a job to do.

The bars reared around him once more. He fought the panic down.

It’s not locked

Distract them. That was what he had to do. Get them standing still, staring at him, squinting as they tried to see just what it was he’d got “ that was the plan. Growling and snapping would not do “ that would only drive them to move faster. But a moment’s hesitation; that was all Tonks would need to pull off a pair of tidy shots that would put an end to these two sickening gigglers and any threat they might pose to the werewolves around him. But he would need to draw their attention somehow “ although the two Death Eaters did not seemed to have noticed the additional thrashing in the proximate cages due to the hidden presence of four humans nearby, it did mean he would need to work all the harder to catch their eye.

It was time.

Slightly gingerly, Remus clamped his jaws around the sticky mess of the engorged chewing gum arm and its wrapping of cloth. It tasted of pepper and lime.

He was really going to have to speak with Fred and George about their choices of flavour.

But in the mean time…

Just a little closer

The brother and sister continued to move forwards at a leisurely, if nervous pace, flinching every so often as they passed the growling, snapping jaws of a caged werewolf. The glow from the man’s outstretched wand crept closer and closer, a pool of watery light that glided across the stone, touching the chains, the pedestal, the edges of the cage…

Now.

Growling deep within his throat, Remus jerked uncomfortably to his feet and slammed the sticky and now mango chutney flavoured mess three times against the bars. Torn black cloth fluttered down towards the floor.

The Death Eaters paused. They stared. They exchanged a look.

But they had paused too soon. A caged werewolf shielded them from what he knew to be Tonks’ line of sight.

Damn!

Maintaining his low and threatening rumble, Remus eyeballed the two Death Eaters as menacingly as he could manage. Bending over his pretend meal, he began a slow and deliberate chew.

Chilli and raspberry. Oh, Fred and George were going to suffer…

Come closer, come closer

Tonks could shift her position of course. But moving under disillusionment was always risky and a moving Tonks always raised the possibility of a stumbling Tonks and that would not be good.

“Amycus.” Alecto’s wheezy voice betrayed a distinct uncertainty. “Is it my imagination or does that werewolf…have something?”

Observant lady. Now come and take a better look

Glancing back at his sister rather nervously, Amycus took a careful step forward. “I think you’re right,” he muttered, his nasal voice filled with apprehension. “And it looks like…” He swallowed, taking another tentative step forward, his sister crowding at his shoulder, his glowing wand extended as far before him as his stumpy arms would allow. Remus mashed the gum arm slowly within his jaws.

Lemon and mint? Oh, sweet Merlin…

His glare at the siblings was no longer quite so feigned. Just hurry up, will you? Unless you particularly want a werewolf to vomit on your shoes

“It looks like…?” Alecto’s voice was rising steadily in pitch. “Looks like what?”

“Like…” Amycus’ voice choked with revulsion as he took another shuffling step forward, out of the shadow of the thrashing werewolf’s cage, his sister mere inches behind him. “Like…”

Nearly, so nearly… He could almost sense the slow, unseen rise of Tonks’ pair of wands. Just a moment longer

Pea and Orange. Coleslaw and Vinegar. Tomato and Blackcurrant…

Hurry up!

Amycus’ lip was curling. “Like… Like an…”

Alecto’s sudden sniff cut him off. “Wait. Do you smell blackcurrants?”

Her brother began to sniff too. “I…Omph!”

But whether Amycus had smelled it or not was not something his sister was ever destined to know. Red light slammed him squarely in the chest and sent him crumpling, stunned and unconscious, to the ground.

That at least had gone to plan. What went a little less to plan was that Alecto failed to follow.

For in the instant of her fragrant discovery, the lumpy female Death Eater had taken a step back. And Tonks’ spell, which a moment before had been trained firmly on her chest, instead skimmed just millimetres past her ear.

And that instant of awareness was enough.

At the top of her voice, Alecto screamed.

“Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!


And even over the howl and clatter of the caged werewolves, Alecto’s screech echoed and travelled far. And a moment later, it spawned far worse.

A siren began to blare like the whining scream that had launched it, echoing beyond the chamber to carry, Remus had no doubt, throughout the length of the Institute.

A voice triggered emergency alarm. Perfect for alerting the Institute staff to a problem in the werewolf cages. Rather less perfect for five people trying to sneak up on a group of Death Eaters.

Sod it!

“Stupefy
!” This time, Tonks’ curse struck true, felling the screeching Alecto in a single shot. But the damage was already done.

Wriggling backwards, Remus was already kicking at the rear of his cage, desperate to get free before the trouble started. He caught a glimpse of Tonks rippling into view beside him, her lips biting off curses as she swore like a champion, dragging the cage back open. He barely had time to shuffle back before he felt her hands clasping his haunches, hauling him out with little dignity but significant speed as he slapped against the ground with a wince, staggering to his feet as she shot him a look filled with unspoken apology. But there was no time to waste with matching words.

“Run!” The Auror’s order was sharp as three pale-faced heads appeared in mid air. “Get out of here, go, before we’re trapped!”

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn’t waste time with dispute, for which Remus could only be grateful. Disentangling from the cloak in favour of haste, the three students turned and fled towards the stairwell at a run.

The smell of old blood, of fresh blood, of sweat and fear and bloody chewing gum all but overwhelmed him. But distant and indistinct, there came a hint of something more…

Someone’s coming

“Come on Remus!” Tonks was already following, beckoning sharply with one wand filled hand. “We have to…”

Avada Kedavra!”

He didn’t think. He didn’t need to. He simply acted.

His paws slammed heavily into her shoulders, toppling her backwards as she cried out in shock, skidding beneath him along the stone floor until the wall halted them both with a jolt. He felt the spell glance against his fur, felt it burn for an instant but then vanish into nothingness as the natural immunity of his werewolf form shrugged away that most deadly of magic.

No spell will damage a werewolf. Not even that one.

For an instant, her wide dark eyes stared into his full moon gold. But then professionalism overwhelmed grateful shock and sharply she pushed his warm, furry body away and wheeled to face her new aggressors.

There were two of them, both men dressed in dark robes and shrouded in the shadows of the passage-like room that stretched away to their right and they were already firing spells that slapped against the walls, biting chunks from solid stone with the force of their impact. And they were not alone “ down the corridor where Harry, Ron and Hermione had fled, the sound of spell-fire filled the air.

The kids!

But under heavy fire themselves, there was nothing the Auror and the werewolf could do in that moment to help. Scrambling on all fours, Tonks dived behind the empty cage that Remus had utilised a mere minute before, rising to her knees to fire her retaliation through the minimal cover of the bars.

That made four Death Eaters from Level One. But Harry had said six

Behind them, over the deafening scream of the siren, the howls of the werewolves rose in pitch once more. Someone was coming from the other direction.

Oh Merlin. We’ll be pinned on three sides. And Tonks is so exposed from there

There was no time to explain. There was no time to even try. Wheeling sharply, Remus turned and bolted into the darkness.

He heard her gasp, saw her head turn slightly as he rushed away from her and dear Gods, he wished he had a voice and a moment in which to tell her that he had to leave her now, just to keep her safe. I’ll be back, I’m coming back, he chanted in his mind and he prayed that by some impossible chance she might hear him, that she might understand.

But then there was no more time to think.

There were two Death Eaters, a huge blond burly man and a hard-faced woman with scruffy brown hair and a jutting jaw, both rushing in response to the alarm with wands outstretched before them. But wands were of no concern to Remus. He didn’t even slow.

The woman saw him coming first, gasping in horror as she instinctively fired off a stunner that glanced from Remus’ werewolf hide as though it was no more than light. The man had half-turned in response to her attack but it was already too late “ with the force of his momentum Remus drove into both of them, knocking them from their feet to slam against the floor beneath him. Remus was a good dueller, but physical fighting, notably as a werewolf in control of his own mind, was not something in which he had a great deal of experience. He had no desire to scratch or claw or “ God forbid “ to bite them; his vaguely formed aim was to destroy their wands and preferably leave them unconscious or in a state unable to pose a further threat.

Beyond that, he didn’t really have much of a plan.

Which was unfortunate.

The impact had sent the woman’s wand flying away into the darkness, but the man’s beefy hands had kept his in check. The flash of a spell at close range “ don’t these idiots read? Spells don’t work on werewolves! “ caused no damage, but glared in his eyes, a brief distraction that sent him staggering back a few steps. The woman’s leg rose, one sharp-heeled shoe driving painfully into his muzzle; he felt the skin of his cheek split to fill his mouth with coppery blood that stung against his tongue. The woman’s foot rose a second time as the blond man stumbled to his feet behind her, but this time Remus was ready, rolling under the blow and leaping to drive her back to the ground once more. Behind him, he heard the blond man start to shout a spell.

Stup..”

Perfect!


Remus dived aside. Prostrate on the ground, the woman didn’t.

“…efy!”

“You…
” Whatever shrill criticism had been intended got no further from the woman’s lips. She slumped unmoving to the ground.

The man paused in horrified shock. It was not a wise move.

Snarling as viciously as he could manage, Remus wheeled and charged.

He had intended to drive the man back, to frighten and disarm him, perhaps to find some way to knock him out. He would never have intended what happened instead.

Stumbling backwards, the man’s foot caught on his unconscious colleague’s leg. He staggered heavily and fell.

Against a werewolf’s cage.

An angry, frantic, blood-fuelled werewolf that did exactly what came naturally on full moon nights.

Claws hooked into the burly neck, tearing, scratching, pinning fragile flesh against the bars. And then teeth sank deeply into his elbow.

The man’s scream was horrifying, filled with a combination of fear, pain and terror that was icily familiar, before it choked off into a horrific gurgle as claws raked into his throat, deeper, deeper, deeper, blood splashing over the bars, trickling down his neck and robes as arm bones crunched hideously beneath the lever of terrible teeth. The golden eyes of his attacker gleamed with desperate pleasure as scarlet blood gushed through its teeth…

No! No, no, no!

He had to stop this, he had to save them both

The force of his clawed blow flung the werewolf back from the edge of the cage; for a moment, it clung to the arm of its prey almost desperately but a second clawed slap through the bars tore into its muzzle and forced it to relent, release and drop its blood-soaked Death Eater morsel in a heap against the floor. The bulky werewolf slammed against the bars once more, scrabbling desperately, his crimson stained teeth and claws screeching as they tore frenetically at the bars, frenzied at the prospect of one more taste of tender human flesh. But Remus forced himself to ignore him.

He stared instead at his victim.

Stared at the ripped throat, the mangled elbow, the spreading pool of blood that crept and trickled out to add fresh stains to the old brown remains of what had passed before. The man gurgled horrendously, deep in his blood-filled windpipe, an alarmingly terminal sound as he struggled to breathe through the tattered remains of his neck.

But it was a hopeless cause.

His rasps fell silent. His eyes glazed. His arms slumped.

Dead. Very dead.

Remus briefly closed his eyes. He could not admit to being sorry about one less Death Eater in the world. But the fate of a werewolf that killed, for whatever reason…

His eyes slipped to the blood-splattered piece of paper pinned to the pedestal, naming the human alter ego of its prisoner.

Thor Wilding.

He raised his eyes to the slavering werewolf still beating against the bars to reach its now lifeless meat. He had no idea what he’d just done…

But he would. If he was found like this, he would. If he remembered anything, he would…

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I never meant for that to happen


But then musing was forgotten. A scream broke into his thoughts.

That was Hermione…

Apologise later, Lupin! Now is not the time to beat yourself up


He took in the situation at a glance. Harry, Ron and Hermione, driven back by whatever attackers had waylaid them, now crouched against the doorframe near to Tonks as they fired off hurried spells back down the exit corridor. They appeared to be conscious and intact although Hermione was clutching a bleeding arm and Ron’s hair had taken on a distinctly singed quality. Beyond them, one of the two Death Eaters who had pinned down Tonks had fallen, a heap of black robes on the ground, but the other was dodging and weaving as the Auror peppered him with every spell that seemed to come to mind, swearing at his every agile jink and misfire. The bars of her covering cage had flared and melted and she had abandoned it altogether in favour of full frontal assault. Even as he watched, a vicious spike of purple light skimmed narrowly passed her ear and slammed a long gash out of the wall behind.

That’s enough of that!

Remus didn’t even bother with the vaguest plan this time. He simply snapped his teeth and charged.

And on this occasion, the sight of snarling, fully grown werewolf bearing down at substantial speed proved to be an ample distraction.

Eyes wide with primal terror, the Death Eater wheeled to face his new opponent. Consequently, the red stunner that slammed into his chest and hurled him to the ground came as a bit of a surprise.

Pulling sharply out of his run, Remus wheeled and trotted quickly back to where Tonks was waiting. She grinned.

“Thanks,” she simply said.

“Got him! Yes!” Ron’s abrupt cry drew instant attention. With a beaming smile, the young man had leapt to his feet. “I got him, did you see?” he exclaimed joyfully. “Did you see that, Harry, Hermione? I got the last one! A stunner, straight in the face!”

Both Harry and Hermione grinned at their friend. “We saw,” Hermione simply said, her eyes shining. “It was brilliant.”

Bloody brilliant,” Harry reiterated with a chuckle.

Tonks glanced down at Remus for a moment, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath against the raging blare of the siren and the continuing howls of the residents. Her face was rather pale as she gave a wan smile.

“That’s great, Ron,” she said hurriedly. “But now we have to get out of here.” Her eyes darted to Remus. “Do I take it you took care of the other two?”

The image of the mutilated blond Death Eater flashed across Remus’ mind. Fighting down a surge of guilt and bile, he nodded.

“Then what’s the problem?” Harry was also a little out of breath, crouching against the floor as his hand rested loosely over his wand. “That’s six from here and those two out there are the ones from the door. If there were any more, they would have come by now! We got them all!”

“Except Wormtail.” Harry’s mouth snapped shut as his jaw tensed at Tonks’ reminder “ the Auror was already directing her wand at the unconscious bulks of Amycus and Alecto as she bound them up in magical rope. “Not to mention that Dolph the werewolf is knocking around here somewhere and that one watching the Dementors downstairs. And they could still pose a problem. Not to mention these are only stunned. We need to lock them up before they come round. Accio Death Eater Wands!”

A cluster of wooden wands flurried out of the darkness, clattering at Tonks’ feet. She gathered them quickly. “Now,” she directed quickly. “We have to…”

There were more words. But Remus didn’t hear them.

For then, he smelt it.

It was faint, distant against the powerful tang of blood, sweat and emotion that curled throughout the werewolf cages, small and hard to distinguish, but he knew that smell, he knew so well that it burned against his nostrils and scratched against his brain, clawing at his memory in search of recognition. He had smelled such an odour many times, he knew, but not as a human and his wolf mind was asleep now, unable to aid him. But surely, somewhere, it had to be there, somewhere he could reach it…

I know it, I know it, what it is, what it is…

I was young when I smelt it. Before I had Wolfsbane. It’s something living, something alive, something alive that was around me… It’s… it’s…

Rat. It’s RAT
!

Golden eyes snapped down to Harry’s casually resting wand hand. They fixed upon beady black within a rodent’s face.

His furious bark could have shattered bones. But it was already too late.

Wormtail’s sharp little teeth fastened with a snap around Harry Potter’s wand. Snatching it up, he turned and fled.

My wand!” Harry scrambled to his feet with a furious cry, green eyes widening with horror. “The wand seal! He’s going to free the other Death Eaters!”

But Remus was already moving, hurtling out of the doorway and down the passage in pursuit of the frantically twitching tail of the scrambling rat that fled in desperate terror down the corridor. Closer, closer, closer, I’ll get you, I’ll get you, I’ll

The growl that pierced the air then could have stripped paint. Remus skidded abruptly to a halt.

The wand still gripped firmly in his mouth, Wormtail the rat scuttled forward through the arch of four, long, furry legs. He paused a moment more and then vanished.

Leaving Remus to stare at his rescuer.

Oh Peter. You always did hide behind bigger friends

A large werewolf, its shaggy fur peppered in grey and white, glared balefully at him. Golden eyes gleamed with human intelligence. Slowly, coldly, it growled at him once more.

And Remus knew at once who it was.

Dolph.