The bright sun shone through the leaves of the trees. The light cascaded onto the moss covered floor, crawling up the rocks that lay in its path. It landed on the top of a large boulder and illuminated the face of a small boy. He squinted his eyes at the bright light and squeezed them tight as the sunlight attempted to squeeze through. Slightly annoyed, he slid off the rock to find a shadier spot.

His bare feet landed on the cool forest floor. The grass squeezed between his toes as he examined his surroundings carefully. He soon found a large tree with roots that were as tall as his knees. Excitedly, he quickly created an obstacle course: jump over that root, crawl under that one, swing on the vine, and so on. In the end, he landed in a little corner that was stuck in the middle of two roots. He leaned back and rested his head on the tree's large trunk. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The leaves above him rustled as the calm wind blew through them. The calming noise was soothing as he drifted off to sleep.

After a long time, the sun began to fade past the trees. The once bright sky began to glow a dark blue and blended into red somewhere around the horizon. Stars began to faintly appear against the blackening sky. The boy awoke silently, not wanting to leave. Yet, he heard his mother's voice ringing in his mind: "The forest holds many dangers, Remus, especially in the dark of the night." Remembering those words, Remus Lupin heaved himself to his feet and looked up into the sky.

The stars began to glitter now, winking cheerfully at him. His gaze drifted over to the round, full moon. He stared at it in awe. He loved full moons. They made him feel peaceful and calm. Its bright light seemed to illuminate his gloomy surroundings and gave the scariest bit of the forest a warm touch. Remus sighed heavily and headed on home. He knew in his mind that the forest wasn't safe for a seven-year-old boy like him, but his heart thought differently.

He jumped onto a root and decided to give himself on last bit of excitement. He seized a hanging vine and pushed off the root as hard as he could and began to swing around and around. Remus stuck out his feet, ready to land in an open clearing in front of him. All of a sudden, the vine snapped sending Remus flying to the ground. He landed far from his target, and instead fell by the base of the tree. His feet stumbled on the uneven surface. His arms flew around wildly attempting to keep himself balanced. Instead, his foot became wedged in between the roots of the tree and he spun around. A sharp pain rose up to his knee as he dropped to his hands and gasped. Remus stayed still for a while then examined the damage.

His right foot was stuck tightly in a little hole. Annoyed, he tried to pull his foot out, but only succeeded in making the pain worse. Deciding that that wasn't the smartest thing to do, he grasped his leg firmly and bit his tongue to keep him from screaming. Remus gave a mighty tug and rolled off to the side with his foot free. Muttering angrily, he sat up straight and looked at his injured foot.

Remus examined his ankle as it turned an unnatural shade and began to swell up rapidly. He noticed the sharp pain that rose up his leg every time he moved it. Deciding that it would be best to leave his shoe on, he pulled himself up and began to hop out of the forest.

He carefully made his way through the roots of the tree and finally ended up at his preferred target. Remus stood in the middle of the clearing and looked up dreamily at the night sky.

The moon shone in the sky brightly as the light dripped down and landed on him while the stars around it twinkled happily. Remus gave them a slight smile ad looked around him. The forest now looked dark and dangerous, and the gloom of the trees looked extremely uninviting. Remus hesitated before plunging nervously into the darkness.

Around him, vines were hanging sadly and branches protruded angrily into the path. He winced slightly whenever a large, sharp twig scraped through his skin. With some difficulty, he navigated his way through the wild maze. After a while, he began to see a small sparkling light in the distance. He knew he was almost home.

Remus limped as fast as he could to the shining light. All of a sudden, his shirt caught an obtruding branch. Knowing how annoyed his mother would be if he came home late with his clothes in shreds, he hurriedly turned around to undo the snagged thread. He fiddled with the string in the darkness for a couple of minutes, only to accomplish creating an even bigger knot. Remus muttered angrily to himself as he attempted to break the thick branch off from the trunk of its tree. No success. He went back to the knot, and was just about to try and snap the thick thread when he heard the snapping and crunching of leaves and twigs coming from the depths of the forest. He immediately stopped what he was doing and stared into the trees in a shocked silence. His hands begged him to work at the knot, but he couldn't. He stood motionless in his spot, too petrified to go anywhere.

Then, two gleaming eyes appeared from the gloom. They looked hard at Remus as if they were evaluating him. Remus winced at the stare of the piercing eyes and gulped past the hard knot that had formed in his throat. A low, soft growl was emitted from the creature, and the faint light gleamed off of its fierce, snarling teeth. Remus looked at the eyes with fear. The creature breathed heavily and his eyes narrowed. Then, the crunching started up again. The yellow eyes grew wider and gave Remus a targeting stare. Remus snapped out of his shocked state, and fumbled wildly with the tangled mess. The creature approached him. It was only ten feet away…nine feet… eight….

Remus gave a mighty tug and the string snapped free from the branch. He spun on his heels, and then suddenly remembered his sprained ankle. Remus stumbled at the sudden memory and tripped. He hurriedly picked himself up and tore as fast as he could out of the forest.

Remus raced out of the trees, wincing with every step he took. The back of his home was just in view between the trees. He was almost home. The creature stayed at his heels, determined not to lose him. He felt it right behind him; he knew he wouldn't be able to escape into the house with that animal right at his feet. Remus sprinted to the side of the house where he saw a rake leaned on the wall. Desperate, he seized it and threw it behind him. A loud bark came from the animal and an angry growl followed.

Remus continued to run to the front of the house when his sprained ankle twisted itself painfully. He gasped in pain, and threw himself against the house. He leaned his forehead against the wall as his eyes burned with painful tears. He clenched his fists and panted for breath. Inside the house, he heard his mother's panicked footsteps attempting to hurry to his aide. Then, a triumphant growl was heard behind him. Remus turned around and pressed his back flat on the wall in terror.

A werewolf stood in front of him and growled, ready to attack. Remus stood against the house, not knowing what to do next. Suddenly, a figure behind the werewolf appeared out of thin air in the distance. The tired man began to walk towards the house, Remus, and the animal, but took no notice in the boy's trouble. The footsteps in the house became louder and louder as they frantically rushed around the house. Remus detected that the creature was annoyed that he and his prey were about to be disturbed. He was finally able to muster up his courage to shout for help.

"DAD!"

His father looked up, first confused, and then shocked. At the same time, his mother had thrown open the front door, scared. Then, the animal lunged at Remus. He threw up his arms in attempt to shield the ferocious beast with his arms, but had no success. A sharp pain screamed from his right side as he felt a set of massive jaws sink its teeth into him. He felt as if his side was on fire as he screamed in pain.

Remus yelled loudly and bolted upright quickly in his bed, panting heavily. Around him, books and clothes covered the floor. The sounds of the past echoed in his head as he remembered his father shoot a spell at the animal and his mother's frantic cries. It was his least favorite nightmare he had ever had. Even four years later, it was still a horrendous vision that terrified him all the time. He realized that he was entangled in his blankets and carefully began to free himself. Once he was unraveled, Remus wiped the beading sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and breathed slowly to ease his racing heart.

An old desk sat to his right in front of an open window. An ancient dresser was placed on the opposite side of the room and, apparently, was no help at all at organizing his clothes and belongings. Some other furniture scattered the room, yet not a single poster that you would expect to be covering an eleven-year-old boy's wall was there. Remus clicked on the lamp on the dresser next to his bed, and a strong light instantly filled the room. Remus groaned and squinted at the brightness and hurriedly turned it off. Tired, he sighed deeply and flopped back down on his pillow.

That dream… he hated it. He despised going back and reliving that horrible day in his dreams. He sadly remembered his parent's sad faces as he lay in his bed in St. Mungo's when they told him what he would have to become every full moon. The fact must pain them as much as it did to him.

Remus sighed and looked across his room to the only window that sat above his desk. A crescent moon stood brightly in the sky, gleaming over the forest. The trees didn't move unless a calm breeze blew over them. The sky was clear without a single cloud in sight. Stars sparkled brightly against the dark canvas of the night.

A chilling breeze blew into Remus' room, sending a loose paper floating across the floor. Remus shivered, and got up to close the window. As he did, a sharp, but small, pain was emitted from his side. Remus winced and drew back his breath sharply. He carefully examined the scar that was left by that monstrous creature. When he was little, he used to think that the wolf had no intention of biting Remus, and just suffered the fate that Remus now had to endure. But a little eavesdropping and a bit of pestering told him he was wrong.

The werewolf that had bit him was called Fenrir Greyback, he was told by his tired father not to long ago. Greyback deliberately places himself near young children before he transform at the full moon. This time, it was for revenge.

"Who was the revenge against?" Remus had asked curiously, trying not to annoy him too much.

His father sighed and rubbed his eyes before he spoke, something that he did more and more often now when he was thinking of what to say, or if he should even say anything.

"Me," he had quietly replied at last.

Remus didn't know what to say then. Part of him had felt that he should be angry at his father for being the reason that he got attacked in the first place. Yet when he saw his father's depressed face Remus knew that his father felt worse than Remus did about the fact that his son would become a werewolf at every full moon. Remus was quickly able to forgive his dad for thrusting this fate upon him.

Remus rubbed the scar soothingly until the pain subsided. He continued to the window and gazed out of it. The air was cool and fresh. Light from the moon shone beautifully in the night sky. Remus loved the splendor of the moon. One of his dearest wishes was to be able to see the full moon without also having to endure the pain of transforming into a beastly animal at the sight of it, for once. He never used to think that such a sight to be so magnificent and he took it for granted, but now….

Remus shook those thoughts out of his head and snapped out of his reverie. He looked at the beautiful crescent moon once more before closing the window carefully and climbing back into bed. He pulled the covers to his chin and stared at the ceiling with a sad feeling gleaming in his eyes.

What he would give just to be a normal kid again….