The War: Winter 1980 & Spring 1981

1.2K 26 238
                                    

Well I love you baby,

I'm telling you right here.

But please don't make me decide baby

Between you and a bottle of beer!

Baby come on over;

Come on over to my side.

Well I may not live past twenty-one

But WOO!

What a way to die!

Sirius made Remus go straight to bed after the skirmish in Galloway. Ferox summoned Moody to the scene, and he excused them. Remus wanted to ask about Livia's body - were they planning to bury her, at least? He didn't know if Livia had had any wishes regarding her final resting place, but he assumed she'd prefer to be somewhere in nature; somewhere moonlight could reach her.

Marlene came over the flat on her way to work to sort out his broken arm.

"Thanks, Marls," he smiled weakly, "I can do dislocations no problem, but broken bones..."

"You really shouldn't be doing spells on yourself, Remus," she chided, "You know you can always contact me, if you need to."

"I know."

She left a sleeping draught and some more of her own ointment for pain relief, and ordered him to stay in bed and do nothing useful or important for at least forty-eight hours.

It wasn't until the next day, when Remus woke up after two in the afternoon, that he was suddenly gripped with terror at the memory of Greyback's last words.

"He's going to kill Ferox!" He shouted, sitting up in bed.

Sirius came through from the living room, eyes wide with concern,

"What?"

"We need to find Greyback!" Remus said, climbing out of bed, limbs creaking, "He said he'd kill Ferox!"

"Moony, it's all taken care of," Sirius said, placing cool hands on Remus's shoulders, smoothing down his arms in a comforting gesture, "Ferox is going to move to a safe house, he'll up his security and be extra vigilant, don't worry ."

"It won't be enough," Remus shook his head, batting away Sirius's attempts to calm him, "Moody and Ferox, they don't treat Greyback like a proper threat - look at what happened! He's more dangerous than they think, and now he's angry..."

"I'm sure Moody knows that, even if Ferox is a bit cavalier about it." Sirius said. He was being so diplomatic; so reasonable, it was infuriating. "How are you feeling? I'll put the kettle on, why don't you have a bath? You'll feel better..."

Remus did take a bath, because his muscles still hurt. He slathered on a bit of poultice afterwards, which at least meant he could straighten up fully. He refused to rest. All he wanted to do was check on Ferox - make sure he had the right security in place. After all, wasn't it Remus who'd been doing all the grunt work on protection charms? It was within his remit, surely.

In the end, Sirius gave in and summoned Moody through the fireplace. The Auror's grizzled head hovered in the flames like a hideous easter egg.

"All in hand, Lupin," he barked, "You can stand down."

"But Mad-Eye," Remus pleaded, on his knees in front of the hearth, "Greyback will find him, I know he will, he'll be able to follow the scent - if you just tell me where he is, then I can--"

"Classified information." Moody snapped. "Every precaution has been taken. You can trust that the Auror's office can cope with a lone werewolf."

Remus's temper rose, and he was about to retort, but Moody signed off. "No time for this, Lupin, it's been a busy week. Get some rest."

All The Young DudesWhere stories live. Discover now