#second order verse

“Well who puts --- BUSHES THERE?” Remus blurt out with a wave of his hand before he tried to push off the leaves in his hair. Yes he’d been drinking. Yes he fell into a bush. No he wasn’t going to outright admit to that. “Coc y gath!” Remus muttered after kicking at a dustballl on the floor in the main hallway but missing and swaying a bit unsteadily. 

Long legs carried him as fast as he could manage, spinning quickly to cast a shield charm just in time to deflect a curse flying at him before he turned back around. He heard them howling behind him, mocking him, yelling ‘Mutt’ and other more derogatory terms about his condition after him as he ran. With a crack one of the masked wizards appeared a few yards ahead of him and Lupin skid to a halt wand raised to quickly send a curse that struck the man square in the chest. He doubled over with pained gasp but Remus’ victory was short lived as a spell hit him in the back, sending him sprawling to his hands and knees in a daze. 

“To your soulless husk,” Remus cheered dryly with a raise of his glass.

It was a rescue mission, plain as that. One which Remus had insisted he take on alone. He’d been doing that as of late, taking dangerous missions as some sort of masochistic punishment. For what, it was a number of things in addition to the fact he felt he did things best alone. No one to worry about. No one to lose, no one else at least. Some of the Order called it brave, the other reckless. Tonks called it stupid but she was young and didn’t yet understand. Of all people he expected her to, Sirius had been her family as well. Remus’ long legs slipped him past the doorway and along the wall of the room. Wand was raised and he was not afraid to kill this man. Certainly taking him alive for questioning was always a goal but the muggleborn’s safety was his first priority. If he was lucky he might just manage both. “Certainly not. My bite is far worse than my snarl,” he joked dryly, eyes flickering across the room to take a brief account of any visible injuries on the captive before they returned to Dolohov’s face. “You’ve forgotten a third option which involves me not leaving here with him and possibly you. Dead. Unconscious and bound. Really it’s up to you how this plays out.”

“Oh don’t give me that look, Black,” Remus said defensively, arms crossed at his chest. Sirius might have thought he could work Remus over like he could at school, the more bookish Gryffindor had always been so eager to please and hold onto the first friends in his life that he’d let them get away with a hell of a lot. “You’ve got to stay in the house. I am in agreement, even in your dog form you’re in danger. I won’t have my oldest friend getting caught and arrested again.”