(AN: Just stating the usual for fanfictions. The characters are not mine and they belong to J.K. Rowling.)
The sun had just set, its last rays of light disappearing in the west. A modest house lay in clearing of trees wherein lived a couple with their five-year-old who was beginning to read and cherished every one of his story books. So it is not surprising that when his new book had gone missing, he began to search everywhere for it. He knew he was supposed to be sleeping, but how could he sleep without reading his favorite book?
The little brown-haired boy pawed through his whole room before deciding that he had probably left it out in the yard earlier that sneaked past his parents bedroom to the back door before he heard his father's words echoing through his head.
"Remus, this is very important. It's okay for you to play out side during the day, but you need to tell one of us never leave the house at night unless either Mum or I are with you."
Never leave the house at night his father had said. But it would only be fora minute or two. Nothing bad could happen.
The little Lupin stood there thinking for another few seconds before shaking his head and continued to make his way to the door with a determined look on his young face.
The door creaked as it opened and it slam shut again as the child ran to his precious book that lay ten meters away under his favorite shady spot.
Inside the house, the resting couple heard the sound of a door closing. The woman opened her eyes to look at her husband with a worried frown before rising to put her slippers on.
She exited the room with her husband two steps behind her.
"I going to check his room to see if he's in there." she heard from behind woman nodded her agreement and continued, checking the boundary charms she had put up to let her know if her child the property without letting her took a calming breath when she found he had left the house but still remained on the 's safe, I'm getting worked up over repeated the mantra to herself, but it was not helping at all.
She opened the door to find her son bent over to pick something off the was still about three meters from the boundary. The object tat her boy seemed like a book and she shook her head, exasperated, before glancing at the small amount of amusement left quickly. It was a full moon.
"Remus!" she called, fear spreading slowly through her body, "Remus, come back here!"
The boy turned quickly, his eyes wide with the fear of getting caught, a fear much different from that of his started walking back toward the house, his head bowed in guilt when they heard it. A low growl coming from the direction of the trees.
Startled, Remus stopped and turned toward the squinted through the darkness before bis mother's cry of terror claimed his caught up with him as he ran back to his house as fast az his small child's legs could carry him. It wasn't enough.
He looked over his shoulder to see a huge furry mass lunge at his fright, he tripped and fell, just as the grayish-brown wolf sailed over looked up to see his mummy's arm pulled from its socket by the wolf's screamed, still not entirely comprehending what was happening as the wolf ripped and tore at the skin of his scuttled backwards from his place on the ground, as if the distance would make it stop human yells of pain wolf turned around, sensing the prey that it had originally wanted and stalked it.
The wolf lunged for the boy a second time and succeeded in wrapping its jaws around the boy's small calf, snapping the bone, and another scream came from the boy, this one a scream of pain. It felt as if the area where the wolf had bitten was burning, from the inside and the outside.
A cry of anger joined the boy's yells of pain from the direction of the house.
"Bombarda!" The voice yelled as a small crater erupted from the ground near the wolf's 's jaws released the boy's leg as it turned with a growl toward the threat. It jumped out of the way of another blast of light for its face before turning tail and running back into the forest, still dodging streaks of light and only feeling half satisfied with its kill and the injury given to the boy, who now lay bawling on the grass.
"Oh, no, Remus. I'm so sorry. I couldn't get here fast enough, and now you're , oh, Merlin, no, you're mother's dead, and I couldn't do anything..." The man gathered the small, scared and crying form on the ground and walked back to the house, tried not to look at his wife's bloody form, but his eyes strayed and began to tear even faster, choking sobs nearly forcing themselves , had to help his son.
He closed the door after he entered the house and looked at the terrified boy curled delicately in his tears were streaming down the child's face as the shock started to sink in. It took him a few seconds to decide his plan of action before walking into the living room and toward the held his small child tighter to his chest with one hand as he threw the powder with the a shout of "St. Mungos!" they disappeared in the green flames.
The man sat in the hospital room looking at the small boy for whom he would have hoped all the success craved in life. Now, however, it would be hard enough to get him an education, let alone looked at the small figure laying asleep on the bed of the hospital room, wondering if he could have any way to save his little boy from the fate that would undoubtedly come to him.
A werewolf. It was something he never would have wished on anyone. The forced seclusion from society because they were too dangerous to be around other people. How could he possibly support his child without fear of man forced his thoughts away from the would help his Remus, no matter the cost. He could not afford to abandon his child now that the boy's mother was gone with no way of returning but with memories.
The small form stirred on the strange bed. The sheets smelled different from what he was used to and it tickled his nose. He reached up to rub it and a familiar voice sounded next to him.
"Hey, there Remy, how are you doing?"
Remus looked up at his fathers face which had a sad, but caring look. It took him a moment to remember what happened, but when he did, the emotions and pain began creeping back into him. He remembered his mother, her body torn to shreds, tossed aside by the wolf as if she was simply an old toy the animal had tired of He looked down at his leg that still throbbed a little, remembering the pain as the wolf's teeth had sunk into his flesh and its jaws snapping the bone. Tears started forming again as he looked back at his dad.
"It still hurts." He let his father hug him, wishing there was another pair of arms embracing him.
"Daddy, what happened to Mummy? Is she okay?" If he were older, he might have caught the flash of pain in the older man's eyes. As it was, he noticed a funny smell that had started from his daddy and he didn't like it.
"You smell kinda funny. Is something hurting you?" He didn't know how, but the smell had made him think of pain. Now that he thought about it, everything seemed a little louder and everything smelled different.
He turned half around to see his father's face. The man's eyes became glassy with tears at his child's deluge of innocent wondering. A single tear made its way down the father's face as he answered, his voice strained.
"Mummy had to leave. You will be able to see her again someday, but for now she will be watching you grow up into a fine young man and she will be very proud."
"But she's okay now, right? She doesn't hurt anymore?"
A pause before the man could speak. "No, she doesn't hurt anymore."
"Then it's okay because she'll know how much we want to br with her and then we'll all be happy when we see each other again." The boy said it with the certainty that he might have used to declare the sun would again rise in the morning
The father just held his son, and they stayed that way until a Healer knocked on the door.
"Mr. Lupin? Would you like to receive medical information on how to stay safe whole living with a werewolf?"
AN:
Please review. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but please, no flames
-SugarQuil
