an unexpected prelude // remus

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

The past couple of weeks had been a bit more eventful than usual; the whole 'family' was back in Versailles on account of the Christmas holiday, and the reunion brought with it much joy and amusement and all of those little other things each had thought they had forgotten over the years. They might have been a weary lot, but somehow they managed to make the passing days just that much more bearable.

Thus that day, as routine as it was, found Lucien in a fairly good mood, or at least as good as his moods could be in recent years. It was business as usual today in Diagon Alley; as much as he adored the family coming back together for that short week, he still needed his respite from them and as such he had made his trip to Diagon Alley alone.

After a trip to the Menagerie to restock on orders of feed for the acromantulas and thestrals, and after a bit of time spent browsing the animals that had just come in as Lucien entertained ideas of bringing another one home (though fortunately and unfortunately nothing caught his eye today), he left to head towards the apothecary to take care of his next errand of trading in some acromantula venom and special ordering a few other ingredients for Devereux.

As the apothecary owner measured the venom and totaled the transaction, Lucien occupied himself in absent chit chat with another apothecary customer, some comely young witch; a bit later, after exchanging the spontaneous decision to meet elsewhere at some designated time and day, Lucien excused himself to collect his things from the apothecarist and then bade them both goodbye as he continued on his way.

It was only outside the apothecary did Lucien pause, suddenly catching sight of a figure that was strangely familiar, though not familiar enough to immediately place. At once, the vampire's mindset was already sifting through memories of sensory input so rapidly and so systematically that those muggle computers could not have compared ...

Within a fraction of a second Lucien had placed the scent as one of the strange figures from that incident a few weeks back with Remus, that one involving those poor misguided 'dark wizards' on their own agenda. Unfortunately, these seemed to be the sort who would not learn from a slap on the wrist; as to what they were doing prowling about now was beyond Lucien, but without even second consideration, he began to follow the man at a fair distance, using the natural flow of Diagon Alley traffic to his advantage.

As the path brought the target towards the Leaky Cauldron, Lucien began to worry, though he hoped he was merely being paranoid; after all, people of all sorts frequented the establishment, but the vampire could not ignore the fact that it was the same place at which Remus was now boarding. And these pockets of rogue dark wizards seemed the sort to hold grudges.

Indeed, it looked as if the vampire's prediction was true. The man had snaked on past the tavern area, heading straight for the stairs that led up to the flats above. Hmph. Well it was no wonder they weren't Death Eaters; the man would have made a horrible spy.

Lucien paused at the foot of the stairs, waiting until the man had disappeared at the top of it before following. Peeking around the corner, Lucien watched as the man counted doors until finally coming to a stop at Remus'.

Rolling his eyes, Lucien slowly drew his rapière from its sheathe as he remained around the corner, waiting whilst the man knocked sharply on Remus' door.

[remus john lupin]

Things had been quite a lot cheerier for Remus because of the holidays. He had been spending a lot of time at the Order headquarters, so he had been spending a lot of time around his good friends. He felt guilty with not being able to get his friends any presents. He could barely afford food and his rent, after all. Everyone understood, of course, but it didn't make Remus feel any better. So, to make up for his lack of giving this season, he offered to do favors for people, like helping Molly around her kitchen and things like that. But...most of the time he was turned down.

Remus was both sad and relieved that the holiday season because all that merriment was a little much for him. All he needed to be content was a cup of Earl Gray tea and an interesting book in his living room. He was used to the poor quality of the Leaky Cauldron apartments, so the train going by hardly even bothered him anymore.
Speaking of tea and books, that was exactly what he was doing just now. He had a tea pot full of hot water on a little table, next to his armchair, with a bag of Earl Gray tea seeping in it. Remus lifted up his full cup of tea and took a long sip from it, before turning the page of his book that he was reading. He was reading a very thick book that was over the goblin wars, throughout history. It was something a lot of people found terribly boring, but he always found history like this to be very interesting.

His head jerked up when he heard the sound of someone knocking at his door. Was he expecting a visitor today? His eyebrows scrunched together, as he tried to remember, but nothing came. "Ah, well," he said, as he rested his tea back on the table with the tea pot and put his book in his seat after getting up.

Remus was cane-less today, so he walked over to the door without any trouble at all. He wasn't expecting any trouble today, but being his paranoid self, he pulled out his wand, just in case. Remus opened the door carefully and was greeted by a loud,"Damn, werewolf!" Before he really had time to react, he was flung backwards by a curse and he hit the back wall. Luckily, he had kept a hold on his wand and quickly attempted to get back up, only to find that the man was standing right over him. “Well, well, looks like you don’t have your bloodsucker friend to back you up this time, do you?”

Before the man knew what was happening, Remus had disarmed him with the Expelliarmous spell and he was back on his feet. The group that this man was associated with was Dark, but not nearly as Dark as the Death Eaters, so he was shocked by what happened next.

The man quickly scrambled to get his wand again and Remus got into a dueling position, expecting something a little more basic. But what came from the man’s mouth was,”Crucio.”

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

To put it plainly, it was rather difficult to surprise Lucien, especially in situations such as these. After all, with the way his mind so systematically appraised anything and everything around him, sensory input was a constant feed of information into his mind, painting his surroundings as an almost tangible landscape. Such hunter's techniques (as he often attributed his vigilance to a combination of vampiric instinct and conscious practice) left little room for the unpredictable, but ... what Lucien had not anticipated was the brashness of this particular individual.

He could hear Remus' cautious footsteps; if anyone in this world was more paranoid than the vampire, it was his werewolf friend. That faint creaking of the floorboards traced an auditory path of Remus' progress across the flat, and Lucien could almost feel the vibrations in the ground; the vampire was on a hair trigger, the hilt of his rapière clutched in one white-gloved hand, but moments before the door opened, a disturbance in the air heralded the approach of two more figures from the landing below. The timing was inconvenient, diverting the vampire's attention; Remus opened the door for the 'visitor' just as said visitor's familiar colleagues appeared at the top of the stairs.

Well, the last thing the vampire had wanted was attention, but if these men were foolish enough to force confrontation in a public establishment in broad daylight, nobody was to blame but them. The first man had already disappeared into Remus' room, spitting curses; the werewolf's well-being was the top priority but before hurrying into the room after Remus and the attacker, Lucien turned back to the men at the top of the stairs and with a quiet laugh he made as if to turn his back to them ... only to swing himself around and lunge suddenly, startling them; he needn't even make contact with his blade, as the two fools had gone toppling back down the stairs of their own accord.

"I was not aware that baring one's fangs and hissing was still an effective means of attack," he mused to himself, leaning over the railing and watching them with some amusement. After a moment, Lucien waved mockingly, quirking a brow momentarily before finally disappearing through Remus' door.

He caught the last snippets of one-sided conversation, and then that unforgivable curse; to Lucien, that proclamation was only final evidence that these men were merely failed dark wizards needing some means by which to exercise their parlor tricks.

"Quite mistaken you are again, my dear," Lucien spat as, barely batting an eye, he swiftly flicked the blade of his rapière; in one precise movement, the man's wand-hand was sliced clean off.

"I shan't waste my time with petty spell work when more mundane techniques suffice just as nicely," the vampire explained calmly as he raised the point of the sword to the man's neck, backing him up against the wall, ignoring the man's pathetic sniveling.

His next impulse was to go check on Remus but ... not wishing to turn his back to this man, knowing very well how underhanded they could be, he kept the blade level and instead looked over to his friend.

"Remus! Are you well enough to stand? There are two more outside; I ... ah ... spotted them at the foot of the stairs."

[remus john lupin]

The curse was fired so quickly and Remus was so shocked by it that he really didn't have time to react. Not that there was much that could be done to save oneself from an Unforgivable Curse, except to just dodge it. However, Remus's reaction time was not what it once was, so the Curse hit him dead on. He quickly fell to the floor, twisting and writhing as the pain hit him. The Dark wizard looked down at him, sneering and started to gradually move towards him, his wand hand up, continuing the curse.

To his surprise, the curse suddenly stopped. He looked up to see his good friend, Lucien standing above the man, who he had back against the wall. He was extremely thankful that his friend was there... Remus dreaded to think what may have happened if Lucien hadn't shown up.

"Ah...yes, yes, I'm fine," Remus replied, only speaking half truthfully. His muscles were now aching from the curse, but it wasn't as bad as they were after a transformation, so he could certainly handle it.

"Two more?" Remus asked, leaning against one of his bookshelves. He felt almost ashamed that one amateur Dark wizard got the better of him, but...on second thought, he was taken by surprise. "Well, they won't be anything that we can't handle, hopefully," he said, standing upright now. Remus really want to thank Lucien for saving him, but now wasn't exactly the right time to do so, as they could be attacked again at any moment.

...which they were at the very next moment. The Dark wizards were obviously not very bright because they seemed to be sending only one man in at a time. Remus exchanged a look with Lucien, confused by this groups obvious idiocy. As the man came in the room, he immediately looked uncertain about the situation, as it was two against one now. He quickly began spouting random hexes and curses everywhere, at random.

Remus dodged behind an armchair just before he was hit with a Jellylegs hex. Whenever he heard a break in the spells, Remus peeked around the armchair to cast a disarming or stunning spell, but the man was apparently quite good at dodging...or Remus aim was just really off.

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

A curt nod was the vampire's reply to Remus' affirmation as to his well-being, but now was not the time for words, especially as the wizards thus far had proved to be rather brash in their tactical approaches (or lack thereof). Though it could not be denied that the Crucio curse was a brutal one, Lucien did not doubt his friend's abilities; if Remus could stand, then he was capable of helping himself, and that was about all they needed at that moment given that extra energy expended on keeping an eye on the werewolf could potentially be that extra ounce needed for the amateur dark wizards to gain the upper hand. It had worked just now, what with the ill timing of the door being answered and all.

These men were unpredictable in that they seemed to resort to the most stupid decisions available to them; Lucien had expected two to walk in through that door, but when only one appeared, the vampire indeed exchanged incredulous looks with Remus. But there was little time to dwell on that; if the dark wizard was going to start throwing curses around at random, it was an excellent display of his ineptness; Remus could handle it, even if he was currently using an armchair for cover.

Figuring it best to be aware of where all three (well ... two, now) wizards were at any one time, Lucien left the spell-slinging wizard to Remus. Briefly turning back to the now-one-handed wizard, the vampire abruptly struck him upside the head with the hilt of his rapière, knocking him unconscious; the man slumped to the ground, and, leaving him there, Lucien promptly swept out the door behind the panicked dark wizard, a satisfying crunch sounding out from beneath the heel of the vampire's boot as he made sure to step on the one-handed wizard's wand upon exit.

He'd only just stepped out into the hall when he immediately came face-to-face with the third wizard; the man was crouched just outside the door frame, clutching onto his wand so tightly with both hands that his knuckles were white.

Lucien almost felt a shred of pity for the poor misguided thing.

Almost.

It could not be denied, after all, that these men had perpetuated these things of their own accord.

"Bon journée," Lucien greeted amicably, but the panicked wizard yelped and immediately hurled an expelliarmus at him; the effect was, admittedly, a tad more catastrophic given that the vampire's rapière doubled as his wand. The sword went flying from his hand just as some other Leaky Cauldron residents were coming up the stairs, and it just barely missed one's shoulder, embedding itself in the opposite wall a bit further down the hall, past the stairs.

"Apologies! Do not mind us; my student is just a tad ... high strung," Lucien explained apologetically to the traumatized wizard and the gaping witch. The dark wizard was in no mood to play along, however, but before he could aim his wand for a second go, Lucien groaned in exasperation and promptly drew from his hip a flintlock pistol. Unflinchingly, he aimed and fired at the man's foot, and, ignoring the yelp of pain that followed as the dark wizard dropped his wand and fell to the ground clutching the wounded appendage, Lucien again offered the onlookers a dismissive smile.

"Nothing to see here, really. Do carry on; I apologize for having disturbed you." He swept past them to wrench his sword from the wall before shoving the empty pistol back into his belt; then, with his free hand, he proceeded to drag the still-wailing dark wizard by the wounded foot back into Remus' apartment.

All in a day's work, really. Though he did hope his friend was faring better than he had been. Already, though, Lucien was worrying about this scuffle showing up in the Daily Prophet. Sigh.

[remus john lupin]

Because of the curse that the Dark wizard had fired on Remus, he was definitely not in best shape for dueling, which was why he was taking cover behind the armchair. Speaking of which, the armchair was getting randomly hit with the curses that the Dark wizard was still firing. However, he wasn't firing them continuously at it, even though Remus was sure the man had seen him dive behind it. Strange person. Perhaps these people were just completely mad.

Remus heard a long pause in the spell slinging and the man's heavy panting. He quickly jumped out from behind the armchair, taking the man by surprise and fired a stunning spell. Luckily he had hit him straight in the chest and the man stiffened and fell backwards. Right before he hit the ground, he smacked his head on the wall behind him. It was a bit sadistic, but it made Remus smile slightly to see this. To him, it was a small revenge for the pain the Dark wizard had put him through only moments before.

Remus heard Lucien battling the third wizard in the hallway, but he knew that he could handle the man alone. He started to get nervous, though when he heard him apologizing to someone. Had someone seen what was going on...? He certainly hope not, depending on exactly who it was. Someone his neighbors were especially nosy, especially the ones that knew of his condition. They were few, but they were around.

He waved his wand, causing a rope to come out of it, wrapping the two wizards in the room together. The wizard that was still conscious looked up at him, with a mixture of fear and loathing on his face. Remus ignored it, though and bent down, picking up the unconscious man's wand and snapping it in two. He tossed the pieces on the ground as he looked up to see Lucien dragging the third wizard into the room.

Remus waved his wand again to make the third wizard join the other two in being bound by the rope. "Well...thank you for helping me with that, my friend," he said, with a slight smile on his face. He turned and sat in one of the armchairs that was still sitting upright.

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

By the time Lucien had returned to Remus' flat, Remus had already subdued the other two wizards. Still ignoring the pained whimpers coming from the man as he tried to nurse the injured foot that Lucien still had a grasp on, Lucien calmly dumped the man beside his fellows, smirking to himself as the dark wizard was bound up, courtesy of Remus' little spell.

"The run-in outside was nothing of concern," Lucien explained casually whilst holding up his sword to eye-level, inspecting the blade for any leftover specks of splinters or blood. "Just a couple of your neighbors wondering what all of the commotion was about. The poor dears; I do fear I might have traumatized them; Expelliarmus spells are rather catastrophic given this." He gestured to the sword still in hand before giving the blade a careless flick, and then returning it to its sheathe.

He folded his arms now, regarding the trio of wizards sitting on the floor before he turned to Remus, waving a hand in dismissal. "As if thanks is ever a necessity where aid is required," Lucien pointed out curtly, a just-as-curt bow following the statement before he absent bent down to scoop up a few random objects that had been scattered by the scuffle so that he could proceed to return them to their places. He busied himself with wandering about the room, tidying up, simply out of compulsion habit.

"I do hope that will be the last of this group. Quite the troublemakers they have proved themselves to be," the vampire went on, musing aloud as he set a second armchair upright before dusting both the chair and his coat off so that he could gracefully take a seat, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap.

It was almost comical, then, the way the two of them were seated facing the captives still sitting on the ground. A momentary gleam of mischief shone in the vampire's pale eyes as a thought struck him, and, with a tone that suggested Remus ought to play along, he turned his eerie gaze to the trio, a considering smile upon his lips.

"Now that this is all said and done, I must admit that I have worked up a bit of an appetite," Lucien drawled, his gaze flickering between each of the wizards as if in close appraisal. "And what do you know? It is as if a three-course supper has been served before me atop silver platters." A rather fanged grin followed the observation, accompanied by a dark chuckle.

The wizards shifted uncomfortably, trying to look to one another as if to say 'you first.'