Consumption

It was surprisingly easy to find Jacob. Christopher mentioned how he gave a variety of music lessons, both instrumental and vocal, so narrowing down which shop was his was no problem at all. The bell above the door gently rang when Remus opened the door, stepping into the quiet and secluded shop.

“Dr. Lupin,” Jacob greeted as he turned the corner, spotting the man in the doorway. “How can I help you?”

“Christopher has become suspicious.” Remus said in lieu of a greeting. His fingers trailed over the keys of the piano by the door.

Jacobs' face hardened, “Let him be suspicious, he has no value to me, not like you.”

Remus inwardly grimaced at his futile attempt at friendship. Remus had no desire to become killing buddies with Jacob. His killing techniques were childish and quite frankly, useless to Remus’ needs. The only reason Remus had responded to his kill was to formulate this exact meeting. He needed to get ahead of the game.

“I have no desire to be your friend, Jacob.” Remus sighed, looking at the man in front of him and his face of annoyance. “I’ve truly just made this visit to request that you keep me out of your escapades.”

“We’re the same.”

“Not really.”

“I’ve seen what you do.” Remus raised an eyebrow at that. “I followed you; I watched you take out their organs and pose them into the desperate scene of love and Greek mythology. Is it Sirius Black you’re reaching for? I hear he has an incredible mind.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Jacob.” His face hardened, the man had now become a witness to Remus’ crimes, and if it came down to it, he may have to kill him.

“No, you are. You should accept my offer. We could work well together.” Jacob had a devilish grin on his face. “We could be powerful.”

“Don’t contact me again.” Remus turned around and walked out of the shop. Overall, the interaction could have gone better. Who knew what Jacob would do next. He could go after Remus, which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, he could easily kill him…But he could also go after Sirius. He knew that Remus was trying to build a connection with Sirius, making him an easy target to use against him. All he could do was wait.

The response came quicker than he imagined it would.

Christopher sat in the chair across from him, “I contacted the police about Jacob.”

That slightly surprised Remus. The man was very anxious, always on the edge of his seat, and Remus knew how much his companionship with Jacob meant to him.

“That was a good decision.” This did actually work out in his favor; if Jacob attacked him, he would have a story as to why he was targeted. “Are they investigating him?”

“They said they would look into-” The office door flew open, smacking against the wall and making Remus cringe at the sound. His poor wall. “Jacob? What are you doing here?”

Christopher stood up, walking towards his friend with concern on his face.

“I just killed two FBI agents who came to question me.” Jacobs' voice was calm as he spoke, staring at Remus just over Christophers shoulder.

“Jacob, you have to turn yourself in. You can get past this.” Christophers hands were flying around in the air, Remus sighed in annoyance at the display. “You can get the help you need if you’re honest with the police.”

“Christopher, you should leave.” Remus walked closer to the pair, now standing behind the man.

“No Christopher, stay.”

“Jacob, I can help you, let’s-” Remus’ hands gripped Christopher’s head, a sickening crack echoing through the office as Remus snapped his neck.

“I wanted to do that.” Jacob glared at the doctor as the man's body slumped to the floor.

“I saved you the trouble.” At the moment, Jacob swung, just missing Remus’ face as the man ducked out of the way. Jacob’s fists flew in the air, Remus taking steady steps backwards as he gracefully dodged the hits. By no means was Jacob’s fighting style proper, but he had the determination that made it hard to get a sufficient hit in.

A fist collided with Remus’ arm, making him slightly stumble. He quickly regained his balance and threw a hit of his own, colliding with the man's ribs. The back and forth was ruthless, a continuation of hits that didn’t do much but slow the other for a split second.

The desk hit Remus’ back, and he quickly turned around, grabbing the pen off of his desk and spinning, jamming it into Jacob’s shoulder.

The man let out a groan of pain as Remus pulled the pen out, this time shoving it into the man's stomach.

Jacob stumbled back, giving the doctor enough time to grab the scalpel–usually used to sharpen his pencils–off of his desk and prepare himself. Jacob came running at him, the bloody pen gripped in his fist. Their arms collided, each of their weapons an inch away from the other's face.

They pushed against each other, trying fruitlessly to gain the upper hand. Remus used all of his strength, pushing the older man off of him and stepping away. A second later, Jacob was back on him, the pen now protruding out of Remus’ arm.

Warm blood dripped down his arm, staining the white fabric of his dress shirt. Remus was mad, he quite liked that shirt. He kept the scalpel in his hand as he approached Jacob, the pen now thrown off to the side.

“You should’ve joined me.” Jacob muttered. His hair flopped over his face with sweat, his chest heaving with the effort of the fight.

“You’re pathetic.” Remus grabbed the man by the shoulder, the scalpel landing back into his stomach before the doctor slammed his head into the edge of his desk. The room went silent, the only sound being Remus’ deep breaths.

He fell back into his desk chair, throwing the scalpel on the ground and pulling out his phone.

“Remus, what the fuck.” Sirius muttered, stepping over a pool of blood as he made his way to the doctor's desk. “Are you okay?”

“What happened?” Dumbledore spoke loudly, looking from Christopher and Jacob’s bodies to Remus.

“I had a session with Christopher today, he was the one that reported Jacob.” Remus took the ice pack the paramedics had given him off his face as he spoke. “Jacob walked through the door and then killed Christopher. I tried to stop him, and we fought, but he slipped on some blood on the floor and hit his head on my desk. Then I called you.”

Dumbledore nodded, his gaze not quite meeting Remus. Sirius however, stared blatantly at the doctor, something in his gaze told Remus that he didn’t particularly believe him.

“Why you?” Albus asked, his eyes flickering to Jacob’s body.

“He knew that I was the one that convinced Christopher to tell the police. Plus, he was planning on killing my patient anyways, I was just in the way.” Remus explained, and in some other world, that would’ve been the full truth. He wasn’t necessarily lying, just omitting some crucial details.

Albus said nothing before he walked away, instructing Marlene and Dorcas to start bagging the bodies.

“I feel like I dragged you into my world.” Sirius sat on the desk, looking down at Remus’ slightly bloodied face and disheveled state.

“I got here on my own,” Remus gave him a small smile, “but I appreciate the company.”

Sirius smiled, but it immediately dropped when he noticed the still oozing blood coming out of Remus’ arm.

“Did the paramedics look at that? You’ll probably need stitches.”

Remus shook his head, “I prefer to do them myself.”

“Of course you do.” Sirius rolled his eyes at the charming doctor. “Can I at least drive you home, I don’t know if you should be trusted behind the wheel.”

“Please.”

Remus’ sat down on the couch in his study, Sirius watching him as the man grunted in pain.

“In the hall, to the right, there’s a closet.” Remus’ eyes were lidded with exhaustion. “Can you grab my first aid kit?”

Sirius nodded, quickly scrabbling to open the door and find the closet. Sure enough, the red box stood proudly on the shelf. By the time he grabbed it and brought it back to Remus, the man was standing, struggling to make his fingers unbutton his, now ruined, shirt.

“Thank you.” His voice was practically a whisper as he concentrated on undoing his shirt.

Sirius took a step forward, taking in the man's appearance. His hair was tousled from his usually professional look, now hanging down in front of his eyes. Blood crusted around his mouth and nose from where he was punched, and his white shirt was untucked from his dress pants, coated in a deep red stain.

“Let me,” Sirius’ hands were on the man's chest before he could stop himself. A blush grew on his cheeks as he brushed Remus’ hands away, gently undoing the buttons. He could feel every rise of breath and the subtle heartbeat in his chest. It was intoxicating.

He looked up at Remus as he undid the last button. The doctor’s lips were parted, and his eyes were wide, his pupils blown open as he looked down at Sirius.

Sirius quickly cleared his throat, gently stepping away from the doctor whose shirt was now completely open, showing off his toned stomach and chest. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Remus shrugged the shirt off with one arm, leaving it in a heap on the wood floor. Sirius watched, mouth slightly open as the man grabbed the needle from the first aid kit, preparing it for suturing his arm.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Sirius felt awkward standing there watching Remus shirtless on the couch as he prepared to stitch his wound.

Remus looked up at him, his eyes trailing over Sirius and instantly making him feel slightly more self-conscious. “Sit down.”

He immediately took his seat on the couch next to Remus, not being able to pull his eyes away from the man's arms. How is a doctor so fit?

“Sirius?” Remus snapped him out of his daze. “Can you wipe up the blood while I get this ready?”

Sirius picked up the rag, gently dabbing at the wound and cleaning off the excess blood. He was careful not to let any stray drops land on the couch underneath them. Remus’ arm was slightly stained with blood, the wound shining against his slightly tanned skin.

“You have freckles.” Sirius immediately snapped his mouth shut, feeling his face get warm at the fact he had just said that out loud. Thousands of freckles decorated the top of Remus’ shoulders, lightly trailing down his arms. It was distracting, and Sirius had a hard time focusing on the task at hand.

“I do. Now focus, pretty boy.” Remus let out a huff of a laugh as Sirius went silent, his face an unholy shade of red. “I’m going to start stitching it, more blood will probably come out so just keep the rag there, I’d rather not ruin my sofa.”

Sirius nodded absentmindedly. His chest was warm, and butterflies were practically doing backflips in his stomach. He watched as Remus’ hand moved into view, the needle in between his well-practiced and strong fingers. The thread pulled in and out until the wound was entirely closed.

“That was good.” Sirius said dumbly, still distracted by their interaction.

“Well, I would hope the years of medical school would pay off.” Remus laughed, standing up and taking the bloodied rag from Sirius’ hands. The second Remus left the room to put away his supplies, Sirius started freaking out. His heart was beating a mile a minute and his hands started shaking. He was so deeply confused that he didn’t even know where to begin when it came to unfolding his problems.

“Uh, I think I should go now. Snuffles need to be fed.” Sirius said quickly, standing up from the sofa as Remus re-entered the room. The man looked slightly perplexed at Sirius’ state, but he didn’t say anything, leading him down to the foyer where Sirius’ shoes sat.

“Well, thank you for driving me home and helping me stitch my wound.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Sirius couldn’t meet the doctor's eyes; he could still feel the blush on his cheeks.

“You did.” Remus’ smile shone through his voice. “Goodnight Sirius.”

The doctor opened the front door, finally allowing Sirius to make his escape.

“Goodnight Remus.”