Spells and Handcuffs (Remus Lupin)

Prisoner

"Thanks," I replied, rubbing my free wrists and ankles.

"We need to come up with something to get out of here."

"Do you think I haven't tried? " I told him sharply, but I was rather angry to myself "While you were lying here hallucinating, I tried to run away several times."

"It's my fault. I released my son. He helps him. I don't know how or where he is. But I heard them talking about him. It's my fault. I got you involved in all this. " and he fell back to his knees and bowed his head. He began to shake.

I felt sorry for him. I know what he did, I didn't approve of what he did in the past, but he didn't deserve such a fate. It seemed unfair that no matter how much he strived to be the man his conscience wanted him to be, it would keep taunting him with his failures.

"Ni estas produktoj de nia pasinteco, sed ni ne devas esti kaptitoj de ĝi." I told him quietly.

"What?" He looked at me questioningly

"Doesn't Barthemius Crouch know Esperanto? " I winked at him. He shook his head, and I continued, "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."

He smiled slightly as the smile reached his eyes. Then he sat down next to me. "When the guilt comes it takes me down the old familiar path. I want to refuse to walk it, pretend that I am the person I demand that I be. I want to erase my mistakes from my head, but if I did I'd never learn from what happened. And it's true what they say, "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." And I couldn't bear that. " Then he turned to me and looked me in the eyes. "I need to get at least you out of what's going on. I got you involved in this. "

We both stood in silence for a while. All that could be heard from somewhere was water running and dripping on the floor. Everyone was lost in thought. The sound of the stairs caught our attention. Someone was coming. The door opened and for a moment the light coming from there blinded me. It took me seconds to get used to it. Wormtail. He was an extremely short man with grubby skin, small watery eyes, and a pointed nose, all of which were lingering attributes of his animagus rat form. I was sick only by his presence in the room, I hated him from the bottom of my soul. And the main reason was not that he was torturing me and keeping me locked up here. I hated him for his betrayal of Lily and James Potter. I hated him for Sirius. My uncle was imprisoned in Azkaban for 12 years unfairly because of him.

"Some volunteer for today's playtime," he asked in a greasy voice and approached us, pointing his wand.

I shuddered. Crouch took a step forward.

"Take me," he said in a clear, firm voice.

"How heartfelt ... But the master wants to be the girl today. " Said Wormtail, waving his wand at me.

I had to gather all my strength to take the next steps. I called Remus's face before my eyes. That was the only thing that gave me courage in moments like that. The memory of his soft amber eyes warmed my frozen limbs. His smile helped me endure the excruciating pain a little longer.

We went upstairs. The room was gloomy, the light coming only from the fire and from a few candles hanging from the ceiling. An armchair was placed with its back to me by the fireplace. I shuddered at the thought of what was sitting in it. At least the snake was out of sight.

"Bring her to me, WormTail," Voldemort's hissing voice came from the chair. As Peter Pettigrew pushed me to stand in front of the fireplace, I noticed that my wand and Crouch's were in the inside pocket of his robe.

Then came the pain. My old friend. It wasn't sharp like a needle or a knife, it burnt around my innards better than boiling water. Everything felt scolded and, move or not, I was in more pain than I could have ever imagined was possible. The death would be mercy right now.

I didn't remember how much time had passed, I didn't know when I ended up in the basement again. When I regained consciousness, someone's hands felt my pulse carefully.

"Are you okay? " Crouch asked me.

"Yes now. "I answered. "Look, while I was upstairs, I saw that Wormtail holds our wands in him. We can try to get them the next time he comes. I think I will have enough strength to transform into my Animagus form. I'll push him away, and you try to get them. Then apparated us from here. You are the owner of this home, you will have no problem with that. "

"All right," he said. In his eyes, I saw the shadow of the man of years ago, who instilled fear in the Death Eaters. "At least it's a plan."

"If you have a better one, I'm ready to listen."

"No no. We will try. "

We were both eager to try. We paced the room nervously and listened to every sound coming from behind the door. In fact, it wasn't long before we heard someone coming down the stairs. I nodded to Crouch to be ready. He clung to the wall by the door, ready to seize the moment. When Wormtail opened the door, there was something that made me nervous. It could have been a tincture of the wrong aroma, or the temperature was too cold. But I didn't have time to think about it.

Еverything happened so fast, I transformed into the familiar black wolf. As soon as I saw Wormtail on the doorstep, I rushed to him and knocked him down. As I held him stunned to the ground, Crouch searched him but managed to find only his own wand. Mine was missing. For a moment the wonderful thought crossed my mind that we would succeed. With the last of my strength, I transformed into a human again and extended my hand to Crouch. He squeezed it, ready to apparate us at any moment. Suddenly I felt some sharp teeth sink into my ankle. The snake. Nagini.

"Go! " I managed to scream at Crouch and let him go. "Run!"

"I'll find some help," he whispered before watching him disappeared.

Nagini was an extremely venomous snake, so a single bite could, therefore, result in a wound that was slow to heal. I understood that her venom was not always fatal, but it made it difficult for wounds to close. I had no chance to fight. I hadn't eaten in days. The constant torture, my last transformation, had exhausted all my strength. I could feel the venom in my body, I could feel the wound that did not heal. I was expecting death. He held me with a cold caress. A face I was taught to fear brought me comfort. I didn't fear him. I feared not knowing, what he might do and where he might take me. I feared knowing that I will never see Remus again. With that last thought and his face in front of me, I closed my eyes.