UNDER THE MOON, Remus Lupin

lxi.

HOW IT GOES.
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But he didn't bite her.

A large black dog attacked him, sending him yards away from her.

Alice felt no wave of relief. All she felt was the burning sensation of her arm. It felt like acid poured into an open wound. She was losing a lot more blood than she thought. She couldn't look at it because she knew that would make it worse.

The dog and the wolf were fighting like their lives depended on it. The wolf biting the dog every chance he got. The black dog seemed hesitant, yet determined. Alice knew it was Sirius. But she still felt no relief. That wolf was Remus. And he'd attacked her. She didn't blame Remus.

Even though she didn't blame him, she was petrified to a numbness. She could hardly feel anything. The one and only thing she felt was the hot blood oozing out of the gashes on her shoulder.

Just feet away, the black dog aggressively bit down on the wolf's ankle. The wolf yelped. Alice winced and began crying again. The bite sent the wolf running and howling into the woods. The black dog limped behind a tree and came back out as Sirius, taking cautious steps toward Alice.

He dropped weakly to his knees beside her. "Alice... are you okay?"

Alice didn't say anything. She was clutching her arm and staring right into the empty void of the woods. Remus was somewhere in there. Probably hurt and confused, even as a wolf. Sirius gulped slowly. "Alice... we need to get inside."

With the added affects of her anxiety, her body was violently shaking from the sting of the scratch. The pain. The aching pain of her heart, and her stupid shoulder. Stuck.

Sirius slipped his arm around Alice and picked her up. She fell right back down onto her hands and knees, letting a hiss pass her lips. "Come on... I've got you..." Sirius tried getting her up for a second time.

Though he was successful, he had to practically drag her. Her body was refusing to move. Her mind knew that she he had to in order to save both hers and Sirius' lives. It was just excruciatingly painful to leave Remus out there. And to just know... she hated wolves. And this whole predicament was a prime example of why.

Aggression, violence, blood, death, pain. All of it.

Sirius probably shouldn't have gone into the castle without permission, but getting Alice somewhere safe was important. It's not like her body was too keen on getting her inside. Sirius wasn't sure what to say to the girl. He didn't know whether he should say something to reassure her that she and Remus were okay, or to stay quiet.

Using his decent sense of direction and memory of the school, Sirius successfully guided Alice to Remus' quarters, which used to be his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's room.

It was warm in there. Remus always had the fire running because he knew Alice was usually cold. Sirius sat Alice down on the couch and pulled a blanket over her shoulders. The same blanket that Remus had been holding when she came to see him that fateful night. It still smelled like him.

Sirius placed something on her lap. She looked down. It was her wand.

She wasn't even sure she wanted it anymore, because her stupid wand is what got her into this situation in the first place. Until he came back, Alice hadn't realised Sirius disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a first aid kit of sorts. Although you can't really call him juggling a bunch of crap a "kit."

He dumped everything on the couch and gave Alice a sympathetic smile. "Let me take care of that and you."

So Sirius stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound, and stitched her up. Throughout it all... Alice didn't say a word. She barely even had a reaction to the pain of a needle going through her arm. It was so quiet. The quiet worried Sirius. He'd barely heard her quiet. She was certainly loud with Remus back at Grimmauld Place. Especially at night to his and Harry's dismay. "Alice-,"