Disclaimer: characters don't belong to me though I wish they did.
Summer with Remus 2 - August
"I know you mean well Harry, but I really think someone else should be here. Just the first time."
Harry sighed, exasperated. "But nothing's going to happen. I've defeated Voldemort how many times now? I think I can manage one night home alone."
Remus couldn't help but smile at Harry's blaze attitude. "You won't be alone. You'll have a large angry werewolf directly under your feet. I'll send an owl to Molly and see if she can bring Ron and Hermione down to keep you company. Ok?"
Eventually Harry conceded. He knew what Remus was saying made sense; it would only be the second time he had ever been near Remus on the full moon, and the first time had ended in a mad run for the Forbidden Forest. Still, it felt like something he should be able to share with him. Since moving in Harry felt he had gained more than a friend and a provider in Remus; they were pack to each other and Harry was loath to have anyone else interrupt that at such an important time of the month. In the end though he couldn't argue with the logic of having a company, and Ron and Hermione were as close to him and Remus as anyone…
"Remus Lupin! What were you thinking! Three children alone in this house on the full moon with a full grown werewolf! You'd better be glad I've got time to stay here with them tonight. What if something had happened!"
Remus carefully folded his glasses as he looked up from the huge, dusty tome he had been reading to gaze at the plump spitfire in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Molly if I get out I doubt one more witch will make an awful lot of difference. Besides, even as a wolf I'd probably be scared to face off against these three."
Mrs Weasley gaped like a beached fished, lost for words. Remus closed his book with a snap and rose from his seat, while Harry tried not to laugh as he caught Ron's eye behind his mother.
"Of course you're welcome to stay tonight as well if you want. The more the merrier, and there are plenty of rooms. Harry if you want to show Ron and Hermione up to the rooms upstairs I'll show Molly where she can stay."
"Sure Remus!"
Harry jumped up, smiling as he quickly passed Mrs Weasley's still flustered form, and hurrying Ron and Hermione up the stairs.
As they crashed into Harry's room they all finally burst out laughing, Harry and Ron collapsing onto Harry's bed.
"Ah, that was priceless Harry! I love to see mum stopped cold once in a while!"
Hermione stood leaning against the door trying to look affronted through fits of giggles. "Ron! You shouldn't say that about your mum!"
"Come on Hermione. Say that without laughing and I might start to take you seriously."
Hermione slumped down onto the opposite bed. "Ok, I give in." The laughter slowly calmed to a few chuckles. "So, how have you been Harry?"
"Yeah, what's it like living with Lupin?"
Harry couldn't help the smile coming to his face. "It's great. I'll admit it's a bit frustrating when they're all locked up in the dining room with the meetings after everything that's happened, but I've kind of got used to it. We talk about Sirius a lot…I think it helps both of us." There was a tense pause as Hermione and Ron tried to decide what they could say to that which wouldn't sound stupid or pitying, but Harry saved them. "Hey did you know Sirius and Remus were together?"
"Of course," Hermione said, just as Ron exclaimed, "Together? As in 'together'?"
"Boys," Hermione sighed, "you're so clueless. Of course they were together. Didn't you ever wonder why they were always with each other? Why Lupin came to live here when he has his own house? Couldn't you see the way they looked at each other?"
Ron and Harry shared a bemused glance, making Hermione sigh again in exasperation.
"How do you mean 'together'?" Ron asked uncertainly.
Harry gave him a puzzled look. "Well Ron, when a man and, in this case, a man, love each other very much…"
"Ew gross! I don't need to hear everything!"
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, surprised by Ron's reaction.
"Ron, what difference does it make if they were both blokes?"
Ron squirmed under his friends' scrutiny. "It doesn't, not really…I mean they're some of the best people I know, its just I don't need to hear about it…"
Harry pushed his glasses up his nose, and looked at Ron sternly. "You're not going to start acting different around Remus are you?"
"No! No, of course not. I just wasn't expecting it is all…come on, you know I'm not homophobic, it's just a surprise is all."
Hermione looked uncertain, but Harry was prepared to let it go. "Hey Hermione, I forgot, I'm supposed to be showing you your room. It's just the one next door where you stayed last summer if that's Ok?"
"Course. I'd better go get my bag." Hermione stood.
"Ron, you'll be in here with me again."
"Cool, I'd better bring up my stuff as well. Mum'll have a fit if I leave stuff lying around. 'It's bad enough when you do it at home Ronald Weasley, but I won't have you making a mess for poor Remus'."
Harry smiled at Ron's apt impression and followed them down the stairs.
"Hey at least that painting of Sirius' mother has gone! NO NEED TO GO CREEPING AROUND ANYMORE!"
"Ronald Weasley what do you call that noise!"
Ron rolled his eyes, making the others chuckle.
The balmy August evening stretched out in front of them, giving them ample time to eat before the sun slowly began to set and it was time for Remus to leave them.
"Lupin you said there would only be trouble if you got out? Got out of where?" Ron asked cautiously as a hush pooled around the dinner table.
Remus gave a smile that was more like a grimace. "Sirius reinforced the cellar for me last summer. The bolts all need the 'Alohomora' spell to open. Simple enough for when I'm tired after a transformation, but as a wolf I can't say the spell, let alone hold a wand."
The silence deepened around them as the teenagers realised what he was saying. They all remembered the wolf from three years ago, but it seemed virtually impossible to imagine Remus inside that thing. No, Harry reminded himself, not inside it. Remus had explained that he wasn't human sometimes and a wolf others, but a werewolf all the time. Over the short weeks they had been living together Harry had had a few glimpses of this in Remus' strength and the way he would scent the air sometimes (though he would try to hide that he did it), but it was only now the Harry truly realised the enormity of what was going to happen. And all too soon it was happening. Remus excused himself and went into the pantry to open the trapdoor to the cellar and walk down the metal staircase, pulling the door closed on top of himself and locking himself in. Remus had shown Harry the cellar shortly after he moved in and knew that Remus would now be undressing, folding his clothes into the tiny metal lock box bolted into the corner where the wolf couldn't rip them to shreds in his frustration.
Suddenly there was a crash from the cellar and a scream which made those left in the kitchen jump. Harry was standing, his hand unthinkingly reaching for his wand, before he realised what he was doing. He paused, trembling as Remus' scream of pain died away. Every hair stood on end as they heard more noises from the cellar, crashes and growls, yips and pained howls. Harry didn't know how long they had been frozen like that when Mrs Weasley suddenly stood and started bustling round the kitchen, picking up plates and chivvying the others into action.
"Come on now, these plates won't wash themselves. Hermione dear, if you could collect everything up, Ron can wash and Harry can dry while I just fold up some of this washing that Remus has left lying around. Come on now."
The work was punctuated with anguished sounds from the cellar, but the distraction was over far too quickly. Mrs Weasley bustled them all into the living room once they were done, making them get out their summer homework to try and keep them busy and keeping up a steady babble of conversation to try and take their minds away from the sounds still emanating from the cellar. In the end even Mrs Weasley's cheerfulness dried up and she sighed.
"It's late. Why don't you three get ready for bed and I'll transfigure us all some beds down in the dining room? I don't know about Hermione, but I don't feel like being on my own with all that noise in the middle of the night."
Hermione mutely agreed and the teenagers sloped off to their respective rooms, decidedly more subdued than they had been when they had raced up the stairs this afternoon.
"How does he do it every month?" Ron asked on their way back down, not really expecting an answer.
Harry paused, gazing towards the kitchen and the howls, the other two stopping beside him. "Apparently it's not normally all that bad. When Sirius was still alive he would keep the wolf company and stop Remus from biting at himself and stuff during the transformation. Remus said even when Sirius was in prison it wasn't as bad as before my dad and Sirius first were with him 'cause he had matured enough to be able to cope with time away from his pack. But now," Harry shook his head and started towards the dining room again, "now he's in mourning for Sirius and so close after Peter as well he just can't take it."
"Peter? What's that rat bastard got to with it?"
"Ron," Hermione chastised.
"What? He's a rat and a complete utter bastard."
Luckily Mrs Weasley was in her room, so she didn't have to hear her son's language as they walked into the dining room and picked out their beds from the ones Mrs Weasley had transfigured.
"Peter was a part of Moony's pack as much as my dad and Sirius were. Betraying the pack is worse than dying. It's completely alien to wolf nature. It's even worse 'cause Remus didn't get the chance to kill him for it."
Hermione looked nervous. "Lupin wouldn't really kill anyone would he?"
"You kidding!" Ron piped up. "If he wants a swing at Wormy he'll have to get in line."
No one got much sleep that night. An all-mighty crash sometime in the early hours there seemed to almost shake the house, followed by a tormented howl which left sleep banished for the rest of the night for Harry at least. Though he tossed and turned that sound haunted him till, once he was certain the sun was up, despite the earliness summer dawn he crept quietly passed the other sleepers and made his way to the kitchen. There hadn't been any noise for almost an hour by the time he was stood in the pantry gazing down at the sealed trapdoor, his wand in his hand. Footsteps behind him made him turn to see Mrs Weasley bearing down on him.
"I couldn't sleep either dear, but I think the others are still out for the count."
"Scratch that. D'you think we could sleep through that?" Ron rubbed his eyes as he and Hermione came to join them at the trapdoor.
"Let me Harry," Mrs Weasley said and had unlocked the trapdoor before Harry could protest. He knew this was something he should be doing alone, but Mrs Weasley was already halfway down the ladder and all he could do was follow. She cast a spell to light the room and gasped as the scene before them was lit in all its agonising detail.
Harry gaped at the wooden walls and ceiling, huge fresh gouges showing up pale in the magically reinforced panelling. The metal lockbox had been torn from the wall and thrown across the room and looked like it may have taken even more punishment besides, but above all that was the blood. The thick cloying smell filled Harry's nostrils, forcing him to choke back bile as he gazed in horror at the smears and splashes that decorated the walls. He couldn't believe that Remus could survive it, and he didn't look good. Sprawled naked and unconscious on his back on the floor, Remus was sheeted with blood, scratches and bites showing vivid red against his pale, almost translucent skin. His left arm was bent at an uncomfortable angle and Harry supposed it must be dislocated.
He knew something was wrong as his friend's mother began to move towards the prone form, but was not quick enough to stop her before Remus' eyes flew open and he shot backwards towards the far wall, crouched down on his toes, his teeth bared, his right arm roughly supporting his left. Mrs Weasley took a step back, shocked.
"Remus? Remus, it's only me, Molly."
Something passed across Remus' eyes, but they remained glazed and unfocused in the dim light. Tentatively he scented the air, as Harry and occasionally seen him do, though Mrs Weasley stiffened in front of him as she witnessed it for herself.
"…Harry?" Remus' hesitant reply came.
Harry pushed in front of Mrs Weasley who gladly made room. "Yes Remus it's me."
Something seemed to go out of him then as he recognised Harry's voice and he fell the short distance to the floor, crying out in pain as his dislocated shoulder hit the ground. Harry raced forward to help him, carefully holding him up off the cold floor. There was space enough now for Ron and Hermione to follow them down and Harry heard Hermione's gasp and Ron's muttered curses as they saw the devastation Remus had wrought.
Mrs Weasley let Ron's language pass by without comment. "Hermione go and get some warm water in a basin will you dear, no soap it'll only sting. Ron go fetch some towels, they're in the airing cupboard on the other side of the kitchen - and a sheet would go amiss either. Thank you."
Harry heard the patter of feet running up the metal stairs, but didn't turn to watch them go. As Mrs Weasley started to ask him to go and fetch something or other he stopped her.
"Mrs Weasley I think I should take care of him."
She paused, nodding in a thoughtful way. "Are you sure dear?" Her voice was soft and caring.
"…the pack has to care for each other…" Remus mumbled barely able to life his head to turn a wan smile at Molly.
Mrs Weasley simply nodded, bowing unquestioningly to Remus' claim on Harry as his pack. Harry could only be thankful for that as the other's returned with supplies.
"Good, Ron you give those to me. No not the sheet dear pass that to Harry. Now Hermione, let's set these things up in Remus' room and let the boys bring him up, then I'll show a very nifty little cleaning charm my mother taught me when I first had Bill. It's been a lifesaver with six young boys I can tell you…"
As Mrs Weasley's voice faded away Ron and Harry managed to get the sheet round Remus, though Ron couldn't help but wince as he saw some of the carnage it was covering. Just as they had reached the stairs Remus stopped.
"Ron, could you grab my wand? It's in the lockbox if the door isn't too badly dented to open."
Ron retrieved the wand and they began the painstaking trek from the cellar to the room Remus and Sirius had shared, two doors down from Harry's. Once inside, Harry and Remus were left alone. Carefully, Harry pulled back the sheet to expose the bloody mess beneath. Even Remus winced to see it, as Harry reached to wet a towel in the warm water.
"You don't have to do this Harry. I'll be fine, really. I know it looks bad, but I've been taking care of myself for a long while now." He attempted a smile. "I'm big boy."
As if to prove it, Remus took his wand from the bedside table where Ron had left it and said spell, tapping his left shoulder to make the bones realign themselves. It wasn't painless, and sweat sheeted off him by the time it was firmly back in position once again, but he managed not to cry out and it did mend, and he flexed his arm to prove it. Still, that seemed to have taken the last of the strength out of him and his head fell back against the pillow. He seemed to admit defeat as Harry took up his now cooling towel and started to very gently pad away the worst of the blood.
"You know this time actually wasn't as bad," Remus said so quietly Harry wasn't even sure he had heard anything.
Under the blood it actually didn't seem too bad. There were a couple of big gouges, but most were only thin scratches which had smeared blood everywhere.
"I think losing Sirius might have driven me crazy, but it's only the wolf that can show it." A wry laugh.
Harry heard that and silently looked into Remus' eyes.
"It really wasn't that bad this time Harry." He tried to be cheerful as he continued, "thank you for being my pack."
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