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I Surrender


A shadow moved across the grounds, cast long by the brightness of the full moon. Severus Snape moved like a whisper, his cloaks pulled tightly around himself to guard against the cold air, his breath hanging like a ghost before his mouth. He moved swiftly down the path toward the Whomping Willow, excitement pumping in his veins, wand clutched in his fist. He had memorized a load of new spells, perfect for stopping any attacks that may come from the Marauders should they detect him spying on them. He was breathless with anticipation. Was he right about the werewolf? Were they really practicing Dark Magic? Whatever it was they were doing, they were about to be caught at it and they were about to be expelled and never had a happier thought crossed Severus Snape’s mind than the idea of James Potter and Sirius Black gone from the school for good.

It would be a relief to never have to look at Sirius Black and feel the chill of the thought that if it wasn’t for him, Eileen Prince would still be alive.

Lily Evans would be his partner in Potions again - seeing as it was her partner and his partner that would be expelled - and he would have his chance to make her see once and for all that they were made for each other, have his chance to prove to her that if he only had her, truly had her, he could be the greatest, most powerful wizard to ever live. She would give him the strength he needed to be great. She would.

This night, this night out on the grounds of Hogwarts, would change everything.

He grabbed a rock from the ground, just as he’d seen in Sirius Black’s mind, and he inched closer to the Whomping Willow. He’d never been very good at athletics, ever - alway more interested in chemistry and books than in throwing balls and scoring goals, and so when he threw it, he didn’t come near to hitting the knot. But he used his wand and with a few flicks he’d slammed the rock against the knot using his magical ability, rather than his athletic ability, and he felt quite clever for it.

Hungrily, he ducked beneath the hanging branches of the willow, running for the mouth of the tunnel, and sliding into the dark.




Outside in the yard before the Shack, it was absolute chaos, possibly even more so than was going on in the tunnel itself. The erumpent was loose, having blasted her way through the front door of the Shrieking Shack and the entire Resistance was trying to assist Newt Scamander in trying to regain control on the beast, who was blowing up half the forest. She jammed her horn into tree after tree, making them burst with great, echoing blasts, the trees tipping and smashing to the ground. Twice, Gideon Prewett had had to duck out of the way before being crushed beneath a falling trunk.

“Please!” cried Newt, waving ot the beast, “You must calm down! You - You must! It’s - it isn’t safe for you to be doing this! OH!

“NEWT!” Tina shouted.

He had ducked just before she speared him with her horn, “Really! That - that’s not very nice of you!”

“I think she’s past playing nicely, Mr. Scamander!” yelled Fabian, “We may need to stun her!”

Newt shook his head, “Do NOT stun her! I’ll get her! Just -- whoa!” she’d swept her horn at him again, caught one of the logs she’d knocked down, and exploded that with a great burst of heat directly behind Newt. “Merlin’s beard,” he cried. “Accio case!” and he held out his hand for the case as it came spinning through the air toward him. He held it up, “Alright, enough - enough exploding things, madam!! C’mon, in you hop!”

Tina was staring at the open door of the Shack… and over all the shouting, over all the noise of the exploding and the groans and trumpeting sounds of the erumpent, she heard it.

Teeny tiny little squeaking barks.

Bradley.

Tina ran for the Shack, leaving Newt and the Prewetts to the order of getting the erumpent contained, and she rushed into the door of the shack. Overhead, there came great crashing sounds (the Niffler had found the boys’ clubhouse and was snuffling about for shiny objects there) and from the trap door she could hear the snarls and snaps and barks of the dog and the wolf, fighting. Tina’s heart in her throat, she grabbed a blanket from the floor and ran over, tossing it over the tiny werewolf pup and scooping him up into her arms, pulling him to her chest protectively. She stared into the tunnel below, hearing the howling, snarling, yapping, gnashing… and she wondered what happened, what was down there… and she clutched the struggling werewolf pup all the tighter as he yelped and yowled and tried to fight away from her, his little teeth snapping at the blanket and shaking with angry little growls.

“That’s it!” she said aloud, “That’s it, I’m not listening to you again when you say not to worry, Mr. Scamander! I don’t care if it means I suffer twice, because sometimes my worrying keeps us from having to suffer quite as much the second time!”




Snuffles was slammed into the dirt as the weight of the werewolf landed upon him, knocking the breath from his lungs with the impact. Above, the tiny werewolf was barking frantically, looking over the edge of the trap door, his little mouth curled about his tiny spindle-teeth as he barked - each bark shaking his tiny body so that he seemed to be hopping about. Remus tore at Snuffles, pulling great patches of hair out as Sirius struggled beneath him.

Alpha! Alpha!! Remus! I’m you’re Alpha, what the bloody hell’re you -- hey! Ow! STOP! REMUS!! REMUS PLEASE I’M YOUR ALPHA!! ALPHA!!!!

But the words protect and kill were the only replies that were coming from the werewolf and Sirius slashed and snapped back, trying to throw the wolf from him, but even when he managed to push him off, there wasn’t any place to go to get away, and the wolf simply tackled him again as they engaged in a horrible fight, and Sirius continuously let out yelps of pain as the wolf snapped and bit and clawed.

But I’m your ALPHA!

A flash of the fight last month with Greyback seared through Sirius’s mind… of Greyback snarling at him, of himself, cowering in the snow just before Lily and Peter had managed to subdue him…

He’d been defeated by another Alpha.

If he wanted to regain control of Remus, he’d have to defeat him all over again.

But Remus was in a terrible temper, in full protective mode over his pup.

There would be no defeating Remus now.

And it was very possible Remus would kill him if he tried.

So Sirius did the only thing he could think of to do.

He cowered, pressing himself against the wall of the tunnel as hard as he could, he trembled, lifted his front paw and closed his eyes, whimpering loudly and painfully. Blood dripped from his legs and his ear and Remus’s wolf got right into his face and let out a loud, earth-shaking snarl that made Sirius’s ears ring with the vibration long after the sound had ended. Sirius slid to the floor of the tunnel and rolled onto his back, exposing his belly and lifting his head to expose his neck, surrendering, offering his most vulnerable parts up to the wolf - You’re the alpha, mate, he told the wolf, You. You’re Alpha. I surrender.

The wolf brought his mouth down, clamping his strong jaw around Snuffle’s neck, holding him, his teeth just on the verge of breaking the skin - but not quite. Sirius trembled. He could kill him with a single snap… he could feel the wolf telling him so, could feel the power in the wolf’s jaw that proved it to be true, and he shook.

Part of him felt so guilty for all of this trouble that he sort of wished the wolf would do it, that he’d close his teeth and just get it the hell over with and Sirius would have gotten exactly what he deserved. Just think how pleased Mother will be, he thought to himself, Just think how pleased! Her good for nothing son, killed by his own gay werewolf lover… How poetic! She’ll wet herself with the glee of it.

The wolf’s jaw trembled.

But then Sirius remembered it was Remus in there. It wasn’t a wolf that would kill him, it would be Remus Lupin - gentle, loving, careful, goofy Remus, who already thought himself a monster. It wouldn’t be the werewolf that would live with the pain of having killed him… it was Remus Lupin who would.

He wouldn’t live with it, though, would he? He’d die for it. Whether at the hands of the Ministry or his own, Remus Lupin would never live with the guilt of having killed someone. He’d said it too many times before, made the boys swear they’d use the killing curse on him before they’d let him kill anyone…

Please, Remus, he whimpered. I surrender.

And the teeth ‘round his neck loosened and the wolf backed away, staring down at him with glowing yellow eyes, his stance all business and no play and Sirius slowly tucked his tail between his legs as he rolled over and crawled on his belly across the dirt, into the darkness, away from the wolf…

And the wolf turned… and started to go back toward the trap door…

When there came a shout from down the tunnel… far off in the darkness beyond Sirius…

“DON’T BE A GIT! I’M TRYING TO BLOODY SAVE YOU!”

“SAVE YOURSELF, MORE LIKE!”

“YOU BLEEDIN’ IDIOT! STOP!”

Sirius’s ears went up… and so did the hackles on the back of the wolf’s neck.