The Marauders: Year Six #Wattys2017

The Lupin House

The Lupin House

The Lupin house was a mess indeed. The front yard was overgrown so badly that the grass was tall and sort of wavy and a branch had come down from the big tree out front and left a bit of a hole in the roof of the front porch. A window shutter hung loose on one hinge and somebody had thought it quite funny to graffiti on the front door - some rune that looked familiar to Remus, who had been reading some of Ned Veigler's ancient runes textbooks in the library room at Fallengunder, but he couldn't quite recognize it.

Ned stood in the mouth of the gate, looking around, "Merlin's beard," he muttered, seeing the disarray about the place.

Remus stared up at it. "Wish they'd burned this place to the ground."

Sirius reached out and squeezed Remus's hand.

Remus drew the courage he needed out of that squeeze and looked at Sirius to thank him for it, then too a step forward and pushed open the gate.

The gate came off its hinges in his hands.

He stared at it in surprise.

"You dunno your own strength, Moony," Sirius said, smirking.

Remus laughed in spite of himself, then leaned the gate against the stone wall. "I guess not. Oh well, what's one more thing to fix?"

Ned Veigler muttered, "That's the spirit."

They walked up the stone walk way, which was dotted with weeds poking through the stones, to the porch and Remus was careful not to step on any of the fallen plaster from where the tree had struck. He stepped 'round it gingerly and reached for the door, which was actually hanging slightly ajar. His eyes swept over the runes on the door again - closer, he could recognize them as two separate runes.

Ned stared at them.

"Wolf," Remus murmured, recognizing the first of the two runes. He traced his hand over the triton-like shape of the rune with nervous eyes. Sirius stared at it. "What's the second one, Professor?" he asked, looking back at Ned Veigler.

Ned Veigler hesitated. "Hater."

Remus's throat ached.

"Wands out, just in case," murmured Veigler, "I'm guessing a jaded werewolf's been about here recently." He breathed the air slowly, analyzing it, but he couldn't smell anything.

All three of them drew their wands and Ned stepped between the two boys to pushed through the door first. They followed, each jostling to get into a protective stance over the other. The house was dark, of course, and there were a good deal of cobwebs.

"The electricity's no doubt been shut off," Remus murmured, "Mum insisted we use electric lamps. We'll have to replace those."

"Lumos maxima," said Veigler, holding his arm over his head and his wand lit up the entire room as bright as day.

Sirius looked around at the thick layer of dust on everything - old empty pub chicken containers still littered the coffee table and floor. There was a heavy smell in the air and Remus felt like he might throw up - his nose in it's sensitive pre-Full-Moon phase and he pulled his shirt over his face quickly, gagging.

Veigler did the same.

"Merlin's nutsack, that's potent," Sirius complained, and he went and looked through the cluster of containers on the coffee table, searching for the smell. "Dead rat," he muttered. "Very dead," he added, making a face at the tiny rotting body. He carefully used one container to knock the decomposing rat into another of the containers. He made face, then, because there was nothing else to do with it, he put the rat-filled container back down on the table.