Trapped In The Shack
22nd May 1978
Solana’s body ached terribly when she awoke on the hard wooden floor, her eyes stung from being open but it was dark. Her hot breath blew back in her face, realising she was underneath a blanket she moved it off her.
She heard a loud groan from the other side of the room as she lifted herself up, her eyes went wide as she realised where she was.
Remus stood hunched over, his back facing her gave out a giant crack.
“Remus?”
He spun around, his eyes also wide. “You need to leave! GET OUT!”
A claw formed, his sharp nails scraped against the wall, Remus was no longer in front of her instead it was the wolf. Her heart beating fast she ran towards the door pulling it but it wouldn’t open, she screamed as his claw narrowly missed her.
She ran from the door, keeping her back to the wall watching the wolf’s every move, it growled at her, bearing its yellowed teeth.
“Remus?” she whispered, her hands held up in front of her. “Remus, it’s me– it’s Lana. You know me.”
She looked around for an exit but all the windows in the shack were boarded up, there was no way in and no way out.
She swallowed hard looking at him, his eyes were the same warm brown colour, his fur was greying.
“Remus… it’s me–” she said once more, but it didn’t make a difference, it wasn’t Remus behind those eyes. Behind him she saw a wardrobe, she could hide in there, but that would mean she would have to get past him.
She stepped on a piece of broken wood, looking down quickly she picked it up, throwing it by the door hoping that he would turn his attention to it but his eyes stayed on her like she was a piece of meat.
She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She was going to have to run for it.
She opened them again, her eyes locked with the wolf’s as he snarled at her.
Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding and the longer she stood there the more he would want her, she darted towards the wardrobe, his claw barely missed her shoulder, catching onto her cloak, she managed not to scream that would only make him more angry, she managed to run into the wardrobe, slamming the door behind her.
She kept a strong grip as he tried to maul his way to her. She didn’t let go, wincing every time he almost got in but she was able to keep it shut.
She didn’t know how long it had been when he got tired, when he stopped, but she didn’t dare let go of the door no matter how tired her arms were, she didn’t want to risk making any noise that would disturb him. Solana refused to close her eyes for a single second, she didn’t want to be caught off guard.
The hours droned on and finally she saw the small amount of sunlight through the gap of the door.
Remus stirred but Solana refused to move.
“Solana?”
His voice was timid and scared.
“Solana, I’m– I’m me again,” she could hear him walking towards her, “Lana–”
He didn’t open the door, he waited for her, it made a loud creak when she did.
“I’m sorry–” she began shaking her head, she climbed out of the wardrobe.
He stared at her, “Why are you here–”
“Remus I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said–”
“I don’t care about that, why are you here?”
Solana wiped away tears she didn’t realise were falling. “He knows– Antonin knows about us– he knows about you– I had to say that so you would never speak to me again–”
His brows furrowed, she could tell his throat burned. “Why would you want that?”
“I kissed someone– months ago, I didn’t mean to– it was an accident and I stopped it. I made sure it didn’t go further but Antonin– he– he found out and and he–” she shook her head. “Remus– he killed him and I– I couldn’t let that happen to you. I didn’t want to lose you like that so I had to lose you another way–”
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her in a tight hug as she cried into his chest. “Did he put you here?”
She nodded, “I’m sorry Remus,” she whispered. “I never meant it,”
He shook his head, kissing the top of her head, his voice was soft. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You didn’t do anything,” she sniffed.
“I never wanted you to see me like that, I’m not in control, I– I could have hurt you I could have–” he swallowed hard, not finishing his sentence.
He pulled away looking at her, his eyes looked sad as they guided down to her shoulder. “You’re bleeding–”
She looked down, “It wasn’t you–” she began as he moved her shirt.
His face turned unreadable. “Is that–”
“Remus–”
“Why the hell have you got Dolohov’s initials–”
Solana shook her head, tears filling her eyes again.
“Solana?”
“He– Antonin– his parents, they–” she closed her eyes, “His parents paid my parents,”
Remus stared at her, his brows furrowed once again.
“He paid for me.”
“What?”
She took a deep breath. “He owns me.”
Remus paused, he scanned her face. “What the fuck do you mean he owns you? You can’t own someone–”
“They paid Remus, he can do whatever he wants to me–”
“No.” Remus said plainly, shaking his head. “No, that’s not even legal–”
“It doesn’t matter to them, Remus,” she shook her head. “My parents have the money–”
“Then we’ll– we’ll pay it back–” he stammered.
“It’s a million galleons.” she said smally.
Remus let out a breath. “Fuck, Lana,”
“I didn’t want to tell you,” she shook her head. “There’s no way I can get out of it–”
“We’ll go to the Auror’s–”
“Remus,” she said, defeatedly. “They have money– they have power, we have nothing–”
“No, Lana– we’re going to fix this– we’re going to–” tears began to form in his eyes, it broke her heart even more. “We’ll fix this, we’ll get the money–”
She took his hand, squeezing it softly. “You have been amazing to me, Remus–”
“No–”
“Out of all the students McGonagall could have chosen, I’m glad it was you,”
“We’re going to fix this,” Remus shook his head.
“Mon cheri,” she said softly, she cupped his cheek, stroking it softly with her thumb.
“No,”
“Well isn’t this just so fucking cute!” a loud voice came from behind them. Remus held onto Solana’s wrist, moving in front of her.
Antonin stood with his arms crossed, he leant against the wall lifting himself up walking near them.
“Stay where you are,” Remus barked.
“What are you going to do, Lupin?” Antonin scoffed, a nasty snarl perched on his lips. “You don’t have your wand, neither does she. And by the looks of it you can’t even keep yourself upright,”
“Antonin–” Solana began.
“I’m actually surprised you survived the night, I thought he would have killed you,” he tutted. “Shame really, see my plan was that he would kill you and then he’d be sent to Azkaban, but seeing as that didn’t happen, it seems I’ll have to kill him instead–”
“Antonin, please–” Solana breathed, she moved in front of Remus, he tried to hold her back but she took her arm from his grip. “I will do anything please– please don’t hurt him.”
Antonin glared at her.
“Please,” she begged, “Just this one thing, I will do anything. Just leave him alone, please.”
“Lana–” Remus started, but Solana looked at him shaking her head.
“I will be okay,” she told him, as she looked into his warm brown eyes for the last time. “I will be okay,”
Her voice was unsure and shaky, he could tell, he went to speak but the room erupted into black smoke.
“Lana! Lana!” Remus called out, but she was gone, and so was Antonin.
Remus grabbed his cane, his limp worse than ever but he ran down the passageway, he had to help her, even if it was the last thing he did.