DISCLAIMER: I solemnly swear on the graves of Lilly and James Potter that I don't own Harry Potter. Shame, really.

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I've got to escape, to run, to get away.

Six year old Remus Lupin glanced over his shoulder with large, saucer-shaped blue eyes. His legs were tired of running and his lungs felt fit to burst.

This is just a dream, just a dream. The werewolf isn't real, this place isn't real, it's just-

OOMPH.

Remus hit the ground.

"So small, so young," the beast said in a menacing whisper, advancing upon Remus trembling figure.

No, no! I've got to run, to hide.

Summoning the last meager ounce of strength in his tiny body, Remus scrambled to the large tree behind him, grabbing desperately at the roots for something that could protect him, save him.

The trees parted for a second as Remus looked into the face of his attacker whose features were thrown in sudden sharp relief by the moonlight.

Remus gasped, shaking his head as he pressed himself firmly against the tree, willing it to open up and just swallow him as the werewolf padded menacingly toward him.

He's not real.

But he was real, his foul stench and wild eyes were surely proof of that. The wolf was very close, too close now, but Remus didn't have the strength or the will to run.

"No, no, please, leave me, leave me," Remus panted, begging; beseeching this creature to spare him. But as he looked into the wild eyes the colour of sap, he knew that mercy would not be present tonight.

The wolf growled, and Remus shut his eyes, waiting for the bite to come.

Please, God, if you do exist, please. Please don't let it hurt.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

With a blur of matted grey fur, a triumphant growl and the flash of stained yellow teeth, Remus Lupin became a werewolf.

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"Moony! Moony, you okay?" Sirius studied Remus curiously, peering at him through narrowed eyes as though he had never seen anything quite like him before.

"Yeah, yeah Remus you look a little… different," James added, scrutinising him. Remus did not meet either of their eyes, instead choosing to look out the window at the waxing moon.

"Tonight's the night, you know. Nine years ago to this day," He maintained his steady gaze at the almost full orb, enthralled by its beauty but equally repulsed.

"The night?" Sirius asked in a confused voice, looking utterly bemused.

"Nine years ago? What- Remus, your birthday's in July," James said, equally as confused.

"The night I became a bloody… a bloody fucking werewolf, you idiots," Remus said calmly and without malice. He shut his eyes momentarily, and it occurred to James, as the moonlight danced across Remus' face; what looked so different about him tonight.

His almost-handsome face was as weary and beaten as ever and he still gave of an air of pride and kindness, but James noticed another emotion.

Tonight, as he celebrated an anniversary of a different sort, Remus looked, for the first time that James had ever seen him, resigned.

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"They look a bit like flobberworms on crack," Remus said mildly, peering into the barrel of white worms that were gnashing very small, square teeth at him in a slightly disturbing manner.

Sirius looked at Remus. "You alright now, mate?" he asked tentatively, joining him at the barrel. Remus smiled his trademark lopsided half-grin.

"I'm okay now, I suppose. It's just, last night, the memories, you know?" James joined them at the barrel too, and clapped Remus on the back.

"No problem, mate. We're here for you," James smiled and prodded one of the snake-sized worms, which recoiled, slithering into the depths of the barrel of creatures.

Sirius grinned and pulled out his Care of Magical Creatures textbook and began flipping nonchalantly through it.

James goggled at him. "Sirius Black, the Sirius Black is actually picking up a textbook and doing work?" He joked, inducing chuckling from Remus and even a snigger from Sirius himself.

"Shuttup, Prongs," he said, cuffing James on the arm, "I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't find out what the hell these things really are."

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"I would like you to translate the content on pages three hundred and eighty-nine and three hundred and ninety for homework. Take special care, some of these symbols are very easy to confuse, so I suggest you use your notes and charts to help you accurately complete the task."

Remus yawned hugely, stretching his arms behind his head as Lilly Evans turned from the seat in front of him to glare profoundly at him. It was a shame, really, that none of the other Marauders took Ancient Runes, as it was such a boring subject that even Remus found himself dozing of from time to time.

But then again, he had chosen to do it.

BRIIIIIIIING.

The bell echoed shrilly through the corridors as the fifth year Runes students waited to be dismissed. The professor waved an airy hand and Remus rose from his seat and began putting his books in his bag.

Just as he was about to leave, the professor called him to his desk. Remus approached cautiously, his bag hanging off his right shoulder and a look of utter bewilderment on his face.

"Mr Lupin, will you be taking N. E. W. T level Runes?" the professor asked, not looking up from the paper that she was marking.

Remus gulped. Truth be told, he had absolutely no intention of continuing Runes for any longer than the end of the year, and he was about to say this when the Professor opened her mouth again.

"I didn't think so," here she paused to withdraw a test paper from her desk that Remus recognised as his own from the angular block print and creased corners. "The best students always seem to be the ones who hate this class the most. Off to lunch."

Without another word, the Professor stood from her chair and disappeared to her chambers, leaving a very bewildered Remus clutching his half-yearly Runes test paper.

Remus frowned and cited the red percentage and circle in the right hand corner.

A perfect hundred.

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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

It was ironic, really, how time was a tortoise when things got to their most boring and suddenly a hare when there was excitement to be found.

Remus hated irony.

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"Moony, fancy going to Hogsmeade tonight?" James asked eagerly, pushing his empty plate away from him. Remus shook his head apologetically.

"Sorry, can't. I've got patrol," Remus stabbed his last piece of pheasant and put it in his mouth, pushing his plate away too.

Sirius put on a look of mock-misery. "But who's gonna make sure we get back here when we're stone drunk?" he asked.

Remus chuckled. "Just don't get too drunk tonight… Remember, tomorrow night…" James and Sirius, who had been laughing at Sirius' remark sobered up immediately.

"Don't worry, we won't have too much fun without you. And we'll save some energy for tomorrow, won't stay out too late." Sirius said, reaching across the table and patting Remus' forearm.

Remus grinned.

"Great."

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Remus stood in front of the tapestry of frolicking children on the sixth floor, waiting for Lilly to arrive. It wasn't typical of her to arrive late, but truthfully, Remus was glad.

Lilly was one of those people who you couldn't decide whether you liked or not, because she was so volatile.

She could be kind and relaxed one minute and then pompous and an absolute pain in the arse the next. Regardless of what end of the spectrum she was at, she was an incessant talker, whether she was scolding a poor first year or discussing homework. More often than not, Remus found himself wishing that he could just pause Lilly and leave her that way; that that was the only way to get her to ever shut up.

Ten past nine.

Patrol had been due to start at nine, and Remus figured that he had better just get started without her; she knew the rounds and would be able to catch up with him, anyway.

Unfortunately.

Remus glanced once more up the corridor, and, deciding that she was not going to turn up anytime soon, began his rounds. He had barely made it a few metres down the hallway when he heard footsteps behind him.

He turned around to see a Ravenclaw prefect walking down the corridor toward him, looking slightly flustered and annoyed.

"Remus Lupin?" she asked, drawing level with him and meeting his curious gaze.

"The one and only," Remus said with a smile.

"Great. Claire Moore, Ravenclaw prefect. Fifth year," the girl introduced herself as she awkwardly smoothed out a crinkle in her blouse.

"Uh, hi, but where's-"

"Lilly's sick. And I was the only other prefect who wasn't scheduled for a two day radius or didn't have Gobstones club, choral group or Quidditch practice… you get the picture." Claire smiled at him.

"I see. Well, do you want to get started?"

"Of course."

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"Yeah, so I broke my wrist and all the fingers on one hand, in one go. Let me tell you, you are lucky that you aren't a beater," Claire laughed. Her and Remus were now finishing up their rounds; they were on their way to check the library and they were done.

They had passed the time discussing their most horrific injuries, and so far Claire's story of being hit in the wrist by a wayward bludger hit by her teammate was perhaps the most horrifying.

Remus contemplated this for a second as he peered into a niche in the wall.

"Pretty bad. What about… third year. Sirius accidentally pushed me out of a tree. Broke six vertebrae," Remus said.

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Ouch."

"Yeah, he managed to punch me in the nose first. I learnt never to play exploding snap in a tree ever again. Let alone with James and Sirius."

Claire laughed.

"You do realise that sitting in a tree has bad connotations, right?" she teased, her teal eyes dancing with laughter.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

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Hello my dear readers,

I know that this is really quite different to my writing style in I Solemnly Swear The Mischief is Managed, but I felt I needed a bit of a change, I wanted to write something a bit more serious.

I will probably keep working on ISSTMIM, just not at the moment, I made a new friend, called writer's block. Ah well, please be patient.

If you enjoyed this chapter, please review. Reviews are good, and, really, a motivation to keep writing. So I encourage you to drop me a line or two, letting me know what you thought. And just for the record, the word 'dot' appears to separate scenes, because three asterisks don't appear when published, and the scenes smush and it doesn't make sense. And I can't get separators to work, either. [

Over and out.

theIRONIST89.