It was another lonely night for Remus Lupin.

He sat in his cell, curled up on the straw that was provided by the house elves, and stared up at the ceiling as if it gave him all the answers. By now, he must have counted every brick on the walls at least ten times. He would have counted them again but the guards had come in and began torturing some poor muggle-born wizard in one of the cells down the corridor. The screaming was so horrible that Remus had to clench his hands over his ears to try and block it out. No matter how long he was down here for, no matter how many people he had seen murdered, no matter how many times he was tortured, he would never get used to the horror that was his everyday life. 

The only thing that provided him with any comfort was Sirius's cloak that Remus had wrapped around himself. He had hidden it under the straw this morning when the guards came in to give the prisoners their food for the day, but after that they usually didn't bother to come back down to the dungeons so Remus knew he was safe to use the cloak. He kept running his thin hands over the soft fabric, loving the feel of it on his skin and how it managed to keep him warm despite the cold autumn months drawing in. It was simply things like the touch of soft fabric, or the warm smile from a loved one that Remus missed the most. Sometimes, he would allow himself to imagine that he was back home, just sitting in the living room with his parents and talking with them. He'd let himself relax for just the tiniest of moments before cutting himself off. It was far too dangerous to let it go any further. 

Other than that, he simply lay on his side and stared at the tally marks he had made on the wall. He had made the first one the moment he was first thrown into this cell and he had carved one every day since, counting the days down every month until the...until the full moon.

Remus swallowed back bile, knowing the full moon was tomorrow, knowing that the guards would take him to that place again, knowing that once again he'd be subjected to a torture far worse than anything the guards could ever do to him. He tried not to think about it though. Just as his fantasies, his nightmares were just as dangerous. 

"Remus?" The whisper came from just outside the cell. The boy sat himself up gently, wincing at the aches and pains that were already wrecking his small body. Tentatively, he crawled forwards until he could make out the faint silhouette of the fascinating boy that had stumbled into the dungeons the night before.

"Sirius?" Remus said, hardly containing his smile. "I thought you wouldn't come..." He trailed off when he saw two more shadows emerge from the darkness from behind Sirius. Suddenly scared, Remus scrambled backwards until his shoulders hit the wall. He was stupid! Of course Sirius wasn't nice, of course he was just like all the other pureblood fanatics! He probably only came down to the dungeons yesterday just to see who he could get in trouble. They were probably going to beat him for even trying to speak to a pureblood! Already, Remus could feel the tears pricking in his eyes at his own stupidity.

"No, Remus, it's okay," Sirius said gently, his hand reaching through the bars. "It's okay. These are my friends, James and Peter. Don't worry, they won't hurt you." Remus was unsure, swallowing hard and trying to control his breathing in front of the three young wizards. What if this was a trick? What if they wanted to laugh and joke like students had done before? It honestly wouldn't surprise him if Sirius had arranged all this as some sort of practical joke, or perhaps on a dare from another student. Of course, no one would want to be friends with a monster like him. No one would even want to speak to one. 

"It's okay, Remus," Sirius said, noticing the panicked look in his eyes. Reaching behind him, Sirius seemed to pick up an object. Remus flinched, thinking that Sirius was about to cast a horrible curse upon him when the other boy pushed a plate under the bars.

A plate full of food.

"We...er, we thought you might be hungry," Sirius said, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, I didn't know what you liked so I got you a bit of everything really." Remus looked from the plate to the three boys then back again. If this was a joke, then it certainly was an elaborate one. Looking back to Sirius's face, Remus really couldn't see any malicious intent in his eyes. He often prided himself on being able to read someone and Sirius certainly didn't seem mean. Swallowing hard, Remus allowed himself to hope that perhaps Sirius really did want to be his friend. Of course he knew that Sirius could never know what he truly was; he'd never accept him then. But maybe, even if it was just for a little while, it wouldn't do any harm for there to be someone to talk to? Eventually, hunger won out and Remus slowly shuffled forwards, reaching out to a piece of toast and taking a small bite. Well, it wasn't poisoned at least, so Remus decided to dig in further. He was hungry after all, having only been fed once today but not at all yesterday. In this place, he should take food when he could get it, especially with a full moon coming up. The moons were always worse when the wolf was hungry...

"There, see?" Sirius said. "We weren't going to hurt you."

"Thank you," Remus said softly. He flicked his gaze to the two other boys who had also taken a seat on the stone floor. One was quite handsome with black, windswept hair and glasses balancing on his nose. He looked nice enough. The other had blonde hair and was smaller, his eyes nervous and flitting about the dungeon anxiously. He certainly wasn't the bravest out of the three of them then. "Oh...I'm Remus, by the way," Remus said, suddenly quite aware that he had forgotten to introduce himself. He may be a monster but the least he could do was have manners. "Remus Lupin."

"James Potter," the black-haired boy said, holding his hand through the bars for Remus to shake. He nodded his head to the other boy, rolling his eyes at his shaking form. "And this is Peter Pettigrew. Don't mind him, he's just scared we're going to get caught."

"It's nice to meet you both," Remus said, his voice quiet. 

"Likewise," Potter replied. "Sirius here hasn't shut up about you so I thought I should meet you." Remus blushed a little bit, wondering why on Earth Sirius would be talking about him. "Anyways, what I really want to know is why you're down here."

"James!" Sirius hissed, noticing Remus's violent flinch away from the personal question. "You can't just ask that!"

"What?!" James exclaimed. "It's a valid question!"

"You don't have to answer that, Remus," Sirius said, sending glares James's way. "Don't let this idiot pressure you. You can tell us when you want to." Remus only gave a small smile in response. He knew that Sirius wanted answers and yet he was nice enough to make sure no one pushed him. Suddenly, Remus felt a crushing sense of gratitude, one so powerful he was almost overwhelmed by it. It had been such a long time since he had felt any feeling other than fear or pain. He clung to that feeling of gratefulness, holding on as tightly as he could and relishing in it.

"So, let's talk about something else then," Sirius said.

"Like what?" Peter asked timidly. It was the first words Remus has heard the boy speak and he knew he was probably right in his assumptions that Peter was much more cautious than the other two boys.

"Like...like quidditch!" James said excitedly. "I love quidditch! What's your favourite team? Mine are the Chudley Cannons!" Sirius scoffed.

"The Chudley Cannons suck!" He laughed. "The Appleby Arrows are arrows are so much better. They slayed the Cannons last time they met!"

"Yet the Cannons have a better record overall," James countered.

"I think James is right," Peter piped up.

"See!" James said, grinning victoriusly.

"You haven't won yet, Potter," Sirius smirked. "Remus, what do you think?" Remus had been so totally preoccupied with listening and watching the boys as they bickered he almost completely missed the question.

"Oh...I...I don't know any quidditch teams," he muttered, cheeks burning with shame and embarrassment.

"Oh," James looked slightly deflated but then immediately perked up. "That's fine, you can be an honorary member of the Cannons fans. So there, Black. We win."

"That's not fair!" Sirius protested. Remus sensed he would have argued further if not for the terrifying sound of the dungeon door squealing open and the sound of multiple footsteps approaching down the corridor.

"It's the guards!" Sirius whispered, his jovial expression evaporating.

"Quick, into the tunnel!" Remus said, pointing once more at false stone just opposite his cell. Just like the night before, Sirius dragged the false stone away to reveal the ladder that led down to the secret tunnel. Quickly, with James dragging a petrified Peter with him, Sirius pushed his two friends down.

"We'll see you tomorrow night, Remus!" Sirius said. "See ya!" Remus had no time to explain that he wouldn't be there the next night before the boys were gone, pulling back the false stone to cover their tracks.

Remus scrambled back to the corner of his cell, hiding Sirius's cloak which he had yet again forgotten to give back to the other boy. He had just lay down on the straw when the sound of footsteps stopped just outside the cell opposite him and light filled the corridor.

"Take the mudblood," a harsh voice commanded. "She will do nicely to fulfil the Dark Lord's bidding." Peeking open his eyes a fraction, Remus watched as two guards opened up the cell opposite and dragged out the poor muggle-born witch who occupied it. She didn't even scream as she was taken away, as if she had accepted her fate.

Once it was dark again, Remus lay on his back and again stared up at the ceiling. That was the second person they had taken from the dungeon in two days, and both had not returned. They were obviously doing something with them, something horrible and awful. Not wanting to think about it, Remus rolled over and tried to get as comfy as he could on the hard stones, using Sirius's cloak as a pillow for his stiff neck. He let his eyes close, blocking out his aches and pains.

That night, his dreams were filled with quidditch matches and snitches. It was the first proper night's sleep he had gotten in a while.

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