'where we are now' remus lupin & regulus black

Hunger of the pine

"Sleeplessly embracing. Butterflies and needles line my seamed-up join, encased in case I need it; In my stomach; For my heart. Chain mail.
Hunger of the Pine"
_______________

My eyes fly wide open with fright, though I am so exhausted and muddled that I'm not yet positive if I'm awake or asleep.

Something scratches against a tree not too far off in the distance, with the same thick, low-pitched sound that woke me.

Confused and clumsy with sleep, I wriggle out of my shitty sleeping bag and towards the sound, blinking back lingering tears from my eyes on the way.

A dark shape wobbles erratically as it passes through the trees, it lurches towards me like it's ready to run right through me.

I stagger back, terrified of what might be lurking in these unfamiliar woods. My throat closes around a scream.

Regulus.

His face is as pale as a ghost and his veins marble his skin. His hair and all black clothes are sopping wet as they drip onto the ground beneath us. His eyes that I love oh so much—they aren't his; they're so so cold. His lips, purple and blue, purse as he goes to say something to me. His words falter though, as a gush of water and soft gags emit from his mouth.

I let go of the building scream.

And then a familiar, husky voice comes through as Regulus walks closer.

"Cordelia!" it hisses. "Ouch! Dammit woman stop flailing around!"

It takes two seconds to shake off the horror before I can stop screaming and kicking. My breathing slows with Sirius' arms wrapped tight around me—not a comforting embrace—and I look up at the sky. The clouds are dimly lit from behind, enough for me to determine the sun will rise fully soon. It's still dark, the beginning of a bleak day.

When Sirius is satisfied with my lack of noise and movement he lets me go.

"What the hell are you screaming for? Are you trying to draw attention to us?" He huffs.

"I thought I"— I sniff, thinking about how stupid I'll really sound—"I thought you were a bear."

He appraises me. "It's okay to be scared." Sirius says.

I blink my wet blurry eyes, suddenly sure that I am dreaming. Any amount of Sirius' kindness is surely a figure of the imagination. "I'm only scared of bears."

He snorts, unamused, walking past me towards our make-shift camp setup. "Help me clean this up." He orders.

"Kay,"

Since leaving almost three days ago Sirius and I have hardly spoke. As we clean it's no different. He rolls up the sleeping bags, I cover up and put out our fire. The whole thing is relaxing honestly, the putting together and taking apart aspect of it all.

We don't have very high standards when it comes to finding a camping ground. Grass is preferred, but as long as there aren't any obvious rocks... at the end of the day we're tired enough to sleep just about anywhere.

Sirius claims that he's been through these woods once before as an Amigus with James. He says it's close enough to the forbidden forest for it still to be dangerous, but far enough away that we don't have to worry about being poached.

Apparently we will end up in a small wizarding town, what town or where exactly, he cannot say.

☽☽☽

Later we are back on the gravel road that leads to nowhere in particular.

The forest is full of life today, all the little creatures enjoying the warmth of the spring sun. Somehow though, even with the birds chirping and cawing, the insects buzzing noisily around my head and the occasional scurry of field mice through the shrubs, the forest seems creepier today; it reminds me of my most recent nightmare, if you could call it that.