Silver Chain Chapter Five
The Silver Chain: Chapter 5
By the Light of the Moon
With Voldemort’s demise, Muggle relations had taken on a higher priority. Arthur Weasley and his department had been absorbed into the Ministry’s security forces. Arthur now managed a group of operatives who worked as Muggle police officers and soldiers. Remus worked as a narcotics agent for the London Metropolitan police and had been responsible for bringing several dark wizards, who preyed on Muggles, to justice. He’d finally found his calling in life. Keeping the public safe from criminals was satisfying work.
Remus was sitting in Arthur’s office, giving the details of his latest assignment to his superior. “Do you suspect any magical involvement?” asked Arthur.
“It certainly looks that way, sir. I’m going to need some back-up on this one, though. They’re planning some sort of cult meeting for the full moon. I’m afraid I’ll be unable to attend,” he said dryly.
Arthur nodded. “I’ll talk with Kingsley and see if he can spare Tonks for a few days then, shall I?”
“Yeah,” Remus said hesitantly. “She’d be a good choice.”
“But?” prompted Arthur.
“I know she’s a fully trained Auror and she’d probably knock my head off for saying this, but I’d worry about her. These aren’t the nicest blokes, Arthur.”
“I’m gathering that. But, as you say, she’s a fully trained Auror and a damn good one at that. You aren’t still in love with her, are you?”
Remus bolted upright at the question. Arthur was afraid that he was in love with his son’s fiancée? “No, Arthur, I honestly don’t think I ever was.”
There was a long pause as Arthur sized Remus up and then he nodded, seeming to accept Remus at his word. “Well, as much as I hate putting a family member in danger, I think she’s the best one for the job.”
Remus nodded his acceptance of the older man’s decree. The conversation shifted seamlessly from business matters to personal ones. Remus wanted to extend his apologies to Molly for being unable to attend Sunday dinner the following week due to the phase of the moon, and Arthur had to back out of their weekly evening at the pub with Shacklebolt. They traded some more small talk. Remus was dying to ask after Ginny, but didn’t dare. Arthur didn’t mention his daughter, however, and soon Remus was in search of the head Auror. He and Kingsley left the office together and discussed the options concerning Tonks on the way to the Leaky Cauldron.
~ : ~ : ~
The sun was beginning to set over The Burrow as Ginny made her good-byes. She’d been disappointed to find that Remus had missed yet another Sunday dinner with the family. It had been three weeks since the night of Charlie and Tonks’ engagement and she’d neither seen nor heard from him. Feeling a bit put out, Ginny decided to surprise him at his place rather than go straight home. She Apparated to the woods behind his home and hiked up the small path to his cottage, taking a moment to admire the beautiful colours in the sky as the sun drifted steadily behind the trees.
Ginny knocked twice, but the door was left unanswered. She tried the handle and was pleasantly surprised when the door swung open. Apparently, Remus wasn’t too concerned about unwanted visitors, or maybe whatever charms he had on place recognised her as a friend. She stepped into the living area and scanned around. “Remus?” she called hesitantly. Since there was still no answer, she steeled her nerves and headed for the bedroom. The door hung open so she poked her head in briefly. Perhaps he truly wasn’t home.
Ginny walked back through the kitchen area, thinking about sitting and waiting for him at the dining table, when she saw the trap door. A rug had been swept aside to reveal the opening in the floor. Unable to stave off her curiosity, Ginny pulled open the door to reveal a ladder, which led into a dimly lit room. “Remus?” she said, as she began to climb down the ladder.
“Ginny? Ginny! No!” Remus yelled.
She turned to see him chained naked to the wall in silver shackles. She gasped in terror as she suddenly realised what was happening. It was the full moon, which was why he hadn’t been at dinner.
He growled furiously at her to leave, but she was frozen in place. The last ray of sunlight sank away, allowing the light of the already risen moon to shine clearly, and his transformation began. His naked body convulsed and contorted as he screamed in agony. Ginny watched in horror as sinew and bone twisted into the shape of a wolf. His screams became tormented howls, and soon Remus was gone and in his place was a terrible creature.
The wolf snarled and snapped at her. The chains bound him securely, but she still jumped away from him when he bared his teeth and lunged at her. Though the ladder was out of reach of the length of chain, it was still too close to the wolf for Ginny to approach it. Instead of climbing to safety, she shrank into the far corner of the room.
It wasn’t long before the wolf’s neck and paws were bloody from his attempts to break loose from the chains. “Remus, don’t!” Ginny cried out when he began to gnaw at his legs and scratch at his neck in order to break free; it had no effect except to whet his appetite even further. He howled in a rage that would not be appeased with anything less than her blood. Tears streaming down her face, Ginny waited out the night. The dawn would see his transformation back into a man. Whether or not the chains would hold him back from his prey until then remained to be seen.
Ginny kept her terrified vigil as the wolf worked himself into exhaustion. He slumped onto the cold stone floor not long before sunrise. She watched as his limbs elongated and his snout shortened. Remus lay beaten and bloody where the wolf had been. The wounds began to magically close over, leaving him blood-stained and dirty, but with no other outward signs of his ordeal.
~ : ~ : ~
Remus groaned at the ache which permeated every atom of his body. The magical ability of a werewolf’s healing was only superficial. They took so much longer to heal when they festered deep inside. Normally he would pass out and wake hours later, still bound by the silver chains, but as he opened his eyes to look upon the room, he realised that today he’d have to muster the energy to get up early. Crouched in the far corner of the room was a wide-eyed and trembling Ginny. He could vaguely recall her climbing down the ladder as his transformation had begun. He was physically naked and he felt as if his soul had been stripped bare as well. Sirius, James and Peter were the only ones who had ever watched his full transformation, and they were all dead.
“You should have run, little girl,” he rasped.
Tears welled in her eyes and slipped silently down her face, but she did not move and did not make a sound. She seemed petrified with her fear of him. With the small amount of strength he still possessed, Remus manipulated the clasp on the shackles. It was something that his wolfish self couldn’t do with paws, but was easily managed with human fingers. As the chains fell to the floor, Ginny let out a piercing scream and fainted. Remus took one look at her limp form and let himself pass out.
~ : ~ : ~
When Ginny regained consciousness, she found herself lying in a bed with Remus snoring softly beside her. Further investigation showed that he was naked and his arm was flung possessively across her waist. She took mental stock of all of her body parts and sighed in relief when she realised that she’d come through the terrible night unscathed. She burrowed deeper into his embrace and fell back to sleep.
When she awoke again, she was alone in the bed. She turned her head and noticed that Remus was fully clothed, sitting there watching her. His face was an expression of barely controlled fury. “Remus?” she whispered, uncertain.
He said nothing for a long while as he continued to glare at her. She squirmed under the intensity of his stare but did not attempt to hide. She had wandered heedlessly into the wolf’s den, and she understood that he was going to make her pay - dearly. Pathetic apologies dried up before ever being uttered. She waited silently for his edict, accepting his power over her.
“I want to see you bound, as I was. I want to strip off every layer of dignity you have until you beg me for mercy. I want there to be no more tears in your eyes when you apologise to me for the last time.”
Ginny shivered.
~ : ~ : ~
Whether it was bravery or bravado, Remus didn’t know, but Ginny led the way to the cellar and stood amidst the chains. She maintained eye contact as she slowly stripped off her clothes. Did she think standing naked in front of him would make up for what she’d done? It wasn’t his naked body that had shamed him, it was his naked soul.
He lifted the larger cuff and fit it around her neck. She gasped as the cool metal touched her sensitive skin. She remained silent as he cuffed her wrists and ankles and tightened the chains. He sat on the floor, just out of her reach, and looked up at her.
“The chains are heavy,” he stated in a flat voice, as he watched her adjust her body under the weight. “They’ll start to chafe before too long and they’ll bruise your skin from the weight of them pressing against you.”
Remus studied Ginny’s naked form. He’d seen her before, touched every inch, but now he was able to take her in at his leisure and he wanted to learn every curve and swell by heart. With a lazy wave of his wand, Remus caused the chains to pull Ginny back against the wall. Her arms rose up so that her hands dangled by her head and her feet spread apart. A lesser woman might have hung her head in shame, but Ginny held her chin up and looked him in the eye. She’d let him have his revenge, but not her spirit. The pain of every breath served to remind him the tortures of the night before. She’d stayed and baited the wolf and taken everything he hadn’t wanted to give. He wouldn’t allow her even the token defiance of a raised chin.
Remus stood up and walked over to her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and smiled rakishly down at her. “Was it everything you’d hoped it would be? Watching my body change while I was chained to this wall?”
“I was terrified, Remus. I’d forgotten about the full moon.”
He ran his hands across her breasts and twisted her nipples between his thumb and forefingers. “You forgot what I was? I don’t think you’ll forget again, will you?” he asked pinching her nipples hard. She cried out in pain and he let his hands drift lower. “Was I a nice wolf, Ginny? Did I let you pet me?”
“The wolf was terrible, Remus. He lunged at me, only to be caught by the chains. He tried to gnaw through his own legs to get free of them,” she whimpered. His hands paused their exploration of her body. She thought of him as two beings, but he wasn’t. He was the wolf and the man, together, irrevocably entangled.
“The wolf is me, Ginny. I tried to bite through my own skin to get to you. I would have done anything to break free and bite you. I could have even killed you. Me, Ginny. I’m a werewolf; you’d do well to remember that.”
Remus allowed his fingers to continue their path to the curls between her legs. Ginny writhed and moaned as he touched her most intimate places. Her knees buckled but she was forced to keep standing by the chains around her wrists and neck. “Remus!” she pleaded. He knelt between her legs and sought out the bud of flesh that strained for attention. He took it deep into his mouth and massaged it with his tongue. She bucked against him, straining for a release that he did not give her.
Remus backed away from her and admired her limp and trembling form. She lifted her head and met his eye with a heavy-lidded gaze. “I don’t like you watching me like this,” she whispered.
“Why not, Ginny?” he asked. “I’ve seen you naked before. I’ve touched your body. Hell, I took your virginity.”
“I know, but it wasn’t like this.”
“Like what?” he asked, knowing the answer.
Ginny lowered her chin. “You’re not with me. You’ve got control and I feel naked.”
Remus nodded, satisfied. “Good,” he murmured. He turned away from her and began to climb the ladder. “It was a long night. I’ll probably sleep most of the day,” he stated nonchalantly, without looking down. With his back turned to her, she couldn’t see his expressions of pain as he forced his weary body up the ladder, but he could hear her soft weeping.
Chapter 4: Remus and Tonks
Chapter 6: The Patronus
Index