Another path for Remus lupin

Small fire

Remus stood behind the tree, taking in short, shallow breaths, his legs feeling like lead, after a few days of frantic searching, asking random strangers on the street for directions and a whole lot of panicking, he finally made it to the werewolf hideout. Peeking from the branches and leaves of the trees, he could see the figures of werewolves walking around, Charlotte was sitting on the grass, picking at it and looking like she wanted to be anywhere else in the world, his heart beat quickened.

Just go in there, he scolded himself, Go in there, grab Charlotte without getting noticed and leave!

Remus tentatively took a step forward, before stopping, he bit his lip, how was he going to go about this?

Remus eyes dashed frantically around the place, looking for some sort of thing to use as a distraction, after all, if he just ran in, he would be noticed for sure, could he start a fire?

It's better than nothing Remus thought, but how could he start a fire? He didn't have any matches, he could rub two sticks together, but the probability that would work was very slim,

Screw it, Remus thought, he turned the other way and headed back to the market place, hoping there was some matches he could steal to start a small fire to distract them, luckily, he found them in a general goods store and plucked them off the shelf and walked out of the shop without drawing any suspicion.

Remus got to the hideout and hid behind the trees again as he slowly pulled the matches out of his pocket, his hands slightly shaking as he got the match out and striked it against the edge of the box, he flinched at the sound, hoping the other werewolves didn't hear it, he stricked it again and a small, orange flame flickered.

Remus carried the flame like a new-born baby till he got to a place where he was sure the werewolves would see the fire, he tossed the match and a small fire spread across the grass, the werewolves somehow didn't see the flames, frowning, Remus took another match, lit it and tossed it into the flames, the fire grew bigger.

"Fire!" one of the werewolves shouted, pointing at the flames that were growing bigger and bigger, all the werewolves suddenly ran to the fire, frantic looks in there eyes, smiling Remus ran off to the side.

The werewolves suddenly started stamping out the fire, Remus thought they were being a little bit dramatic for just a small fire, but, he couldn't waste anytime.

Taking in one last breath of hope, Remus ran out into the hideout, the grass tickled his feet as the wind rushed past him, Charlotte looked up at the scene happening just a few meters away from her, she locked eyes with Remus, her eyes widened in shock, her mouth fell open, she quickly got up and ran to Remus,

 "Remus! What are you doing here-"

"Charlotte!" Remus huffed, already out of breath after running a short distance, "We have to go!"

"But-"

"Now!"

Charlotte quickly nodded as she ran along side with Remus, with each step they were getting closer and closer to the forest, just a few more meters, a few more steps-

"LOOK! IT'S THAT BOY THAT RAN AWAY!" A voice yelled, a pang of shock hit Remus, distracted, he stopped running for a split second and looked the other way while Charlotte ran, apparently she didn't realise what was happening or she didn't see Remus stop running.

The werewolves charged towards Remus, when Remus finally realised he should start running instead of standing there like an idiot, a werewolf charged into him, causing him to loose his balance, his head hit the grass as a throbbing pain exploded in his head, his breathing was jagged, through his watery eyes, he saw Charlotte standing, hidden behind the trees, mouthing a few words before turning around and leaving, Remus couldn't help but feel a pang of betrayal.