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The pair of wary green eyes that greet him when the door opens widen considerably before Remus finds himself encased in arms that are deceptively strong. His own dangle at his sides, letter clutched like a waiting guillotine in his numb fingers.
"Remus," gushes Lily, sounding relieved beyond measure. "Remus, sweetheart, we've been so – "
"Lily, get away from him!"
The woman is suddenly wrenched away from Remus, James standing in front of half of her very pregnant body like a guarding sentinel, wand held aloft. They'd only just found out before he left. He aches with it now as wary hazel eyes settle on him and hold. James' mouth twitches and wobbles a little, like he can't decide what to do.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asks, and Remus grips the letter tighter, fighting the spells working against his body's will. Remus opens his mouth to speak, but James stops him with another question. "What did I tell you when I found out what you were?" he demands harshly.
Remus swallows around the lump in his throat. "That I wasn't a monster. That I could never be a monster," he whispers, and he grimaces with the words. "That I only had a furry little problem."
James relaxes in front of him only marginally. His wand never drops. "What are you doing here?" he repeats, and his eyes are searching, nearly hopeful but looking as though he's holding it back, can't make himself believe it. "We've heard what you've been doing, who you're with now. Why would you do that, Remus? Why?" The last word emerges with a hint of desperation, and Remus wants to step away from it, but he can't make his body move, still bound by something holding him in precise place. He can only go forward now.
Remus shakes his head. He can't speak, voice still locked away somewhere, also against his will, as though by design. Remus knows without doubt it is, Sirius a cruel, imposing figure towering over his entire life now, controlling even this, this one last chance to talk to his once friends he still loves so much it hurts.
"Remus," pleads Lily over James' shoulder, but Remus can't.
"Is this what it is now?" asks James, sounding sad. "Working for Black, doing his bidding without question while he sits on his royal throne, safe and secure, getting exactly what he wants?" Remus watches as the other man's face hardens, covered by a layer of steel. "We never lost faith in you. We never believed what you thought we did. That was your insecurity setting you up for failure, Remus, not ours. There was never any distrust, not from us, but you've ruined that now. You shredded that and threw it away the day you went to him."
Remus still can't speak, but he wants to shout at them, beg them for answers, for why they hadn't just said so. He'd needed them to say it, he'd needed to hear it, but they'd let him drift further away without a word, and Remus doesn't understand.
But James seems to be growing impatient, a little scared, Remus knowing him so well that he can see it in the depths of his eyes. "Why are you here, Remus?" he bites out.
Remus shudders at the coldness in his voice, but his arm lifts, offering out the letter. James eyes it, and then he takes it cautiously, glancing over the front before he rips it open. His face reflects nothing as he reads, wand still trained on Remus. He watches his former friend's fingers grip tighter around the wood, the only reaction he has before he looks back up at Remus.
"Do you know what he's doing?" he asks, voice level, nearly emotionless. "Do you know what he's after with this?" Remus shakes his head, his mouth still sealed closed. James crumples up the parchment and throws it at Remus' chest viciously. "Tell him no. Now leave. Don't ever come back here."
Remus' face turns stricken, and something flashes through James' eyes, Lily stumbling back a little behind him when she sees it. His body tenses, locks down on his muscles, but it doesn't matter, his leg moving against his will, taking a jerky step forward. James aims his wand more accurately, a threat that means nothing to Remus now, silently pleading with them as best he can.
"Remus, don't," warns James, gripping at Lily more firmly. But Remus can't stop, still shifting forward, fighting against it, every effort useless. "He's stealing magic, Remus!" shouts James, and Remus stops suddenly, his body jolting with it in surprise, causing him to teeter a little. James never drops his focus from him. "He's ripping it out of people, damaging them beyond repair, all for his own twisted purposes. And the ones that refuse, he's having them killed so that no one else can gain anything from them ever again."
Something works its way through Remus as the couple stare back at him warily, weight planted on the balls of their feet. He can spy Lily's wand now, just around James' side, but Remus doesn't care. There's a fire in him, a fierce, raging burn searing through his veins, turning his bones to dust. Something plucks at a taut cord in him, everything vibrating, reverberating through him, and then it snaps, not gone, not completely, but loosened.
"Run," hisses Remus, fighting past the gag finally, using all his strength as his wand lifts, trembling visibly in his shaking hand.
James' eyes narrow stubbornly, his shoulders squaring in front of Lily, one arm still around her, a false protection. "No."
"RUN!" roars Remus, something ripping inside him, the word tearing from his throat, shredding it to ragged bits.
James and Lily rock backwards from the force of it, stuttering a little. Their eyes rake over him, taking in the desperation and pleading filling his expression. James hesitates for just a moment before he's squeezing Lily and then nodding once at Remus.
"Go," he says over his shoulder to his wife. "Go, Lils. I'm right behind you."
Lily seems like she wants to protest, but James shoves her away with gentle force, and she disappears from sight around the wall. James remains, staring Remus down, watching his wand, still shaking in his lifted hand. And then he's gone too, a flash of hazel eyes and chaotic black hair, and finally nothing.
Remus bends forward at his waist, everything in him fighting to follow them, but he has just enough control now to fight it back, to remain where he is, to give his friends time to escape. He growls, moans, pain lacing through him as he battles, and then he's screaming into the darkness at his back, rage flooding him, filling every vacant part of himself, drowning out nearly everything else that had once been good.
@wolfstarmicrofic
Prompt: royal
