Summary: Gabriel's life spin's out of control when he indirectly kills his half-blood mother. He is hated by his grandmother for his mother's lowly origins, and he drifts from his father as misunderstandings and guilt tear apart their relationship. Forced to live with his uncle, Gabriel slowly enters a new kind of hell. How do the Marauder's fit into this? Extremely slow (romance wise), but this will be slash (boy x boy).
Not sure of pairings yet :/ Feel free to leave suggestions :D
Gabriel, Aged 7
Morty, Aged 8
All the characters in the book are JK. Rowling's, I just own the plot :p
Chapter 1
Gabriel shivered in his bed despite the warming charms embedded in the blankets. Anticipation pooled in his stomach, as a glowing light softly flooded the room.
It was the full moon! Maybe he'd hear the werewolf again! Gabriel had learned about werewolves from his cousin Morty. They were evil monsters that turned into terrible beasts during the full moon. Morty had tried to show him a picture, from a book in his father's library, but Uncle Kront had locked the door, forcing Gabriel to rely on Morty's rather dull descriptions. Morty was an entertaining fellow, but being a year older and dreadfully serious, Morty was rather full of himself and liked to use boring words Gabriel didn't understand.
He crept across the room, as though a werewolf could be lurking in his very bedroom, bashing his foot against the lip of the vent, before climbing up onto the window seat. The large window gave an excellent view and he absently noted the swishing grass of the grounds, as he rubbed his sore foot. Turning, he noticed the moonlight had added shadows to his otherwise bare room, pushing his imagination to overdrive. If he was a monster, where would he hide? The only plausible spots, in his opinion, would be in the shadow of his bookcase, under his desk or in his rather large walk-in closet.
He did not ask for things lightly, and preferred to make do with what was given to him. As a result, he only had about 4 or 5 pieces of furniture and most of his "baby" toys were now stored in the playroom, giving his room a more mature feel, as dictated by his father.
Gabriel was a very independent child. He had been since the day his mother left over a year ago, despite his cries and desperate hugs. She hadn't even looked back. His father had clapped him on the shoulder afterward and told him that he should not snivel after someone who obviously did not want them.
From that day onward, His father, Declart Gris, had encouraged Gabriel to become more self-reliant, as self-reliant as a child of his age could be, hoping that he could force his son to mature. This strained their relationship, as Declart, busy with business, often left his son alone with the house elves and his tutors, starving Gabriel of the little love his missing parent no longer provided. His grandmother, who enjoyed dinner parties, mostly stuck with his father. The little time she graced him with was filled with glares and punishment for the smallest offenses.
He sometimes felt she stole his father's attention, and resented her, though he feared her hexes which seemed to get more painful as he aged. With the gaping absence of his parents and his grandmother's abusive/sadistic tendencies, Gabriel became willful. He made messes, terrorized the children of guests and shirked many of the household rules, that he had faithfully followed just a few months before - like his bedtime.
It was nearing 11 pm, and the 7-year-old felt his eyes drooping when he began to hear yelps. Of course, he had heard the gentle howls from bed, they'd been ongoing for the last 3-4 months, but this was the first time he'd heard them so close. They seemed to come from the very foundations of the house, setting his hair on edge. Sensing an adventure, Gabriel jumped off the seat, before silently padding to the door, only to find it locked. Frustrated, he turned to the window, but knew it would be too high to jump out of.
Sighing softly, he turned and padded over to his bed, ready to listen to the muffled howls as he drifted off to sleep. As his eyes closed, he wondered if Snippy, their house elf or his father knew anything about the werewolf.
Gabriel awoke the next morning and immediately began to plot. With a vague plan in mind, he resolved to go exploring during the next full moon. Of course, he'd have to prepare. He had already added swiping some silver cutlery on the top of his list rather short list.
He also debated for days on whether or not to include Morty in on his plan and arrange a sleepover, but decided against it, certain that his father would say no. At this stage, it was his secret adventure and he wasn't sharing - except with Snippy, his soon-to-be-unwilling-accomplice. The month passed quickly, and soon it was the full moon once more.
At 9 pm, the sky finally darkened and he summoned Snippy to his room. He flinched at the loud noise, before blanching and swiftly turning to his door...would his father come? Urgently shushing Snippy with hand gestures, he held his breath waiting, slowly releasing it after 30 seconds and then relaxing, when 10 minutes passed and no footsteps were heard. Turning to the house elf, he beamed holding sliver spoons, a lantern and a box of matches to start it with. The matches had been hard to come by, being a primarily muggle tool, but the kitchen had them for some reason.
"Master should be sleeping, it is young Master's bedtime. Does little Master want a song?"
Gabriel grabbed the house elf's hand with vigor, "Snippy, apparate me to the first floor"
The house elf took a step back, shivering, "The young Master should not be out of bed. The young Master should not go downstairs, dangerous things are happening."
Gabriel crossed his hands, his face darkening, he loved Snippy, his only playmate in the house, but he was acting cowardly as usual. Master, don't slide on the railings, don't go in the kitchen, don't pull the flowers. Glowering, he stiffly commanded Snippy to apparate him to the first floor, the same way he usually did. Snippy looked at him fearfully, sniffling, before apparating to the first floor kitchen. Gabriel then grabbed the house elf by the arm, "stay with me, okay?" And proceeded to drag Snippy to the front porch, his silver spoons in the other hand.
Passing the basement door, he was overcome with a peculiar feeling. Snippy was positively vibrating, and he felt faint tremors from the floor. Turing towards the basements entrance, he asked a particularly frightened Snippy what was in the basement. "Snippy cannot tell Master, he is not allowed. Young Master should go to bed before his father finds out." Gabriel snorted, and tried the doorknob. As expected, it was locked.
Eyes gleaming, Gabriel whispered to Snippy, "apparate me into the basement", Snippy shook his head and stepped back. Roughly shaking on his arm, Gabriel hissed, "apparate me into the basement, then you can leave I don't care! I just want an adventure, and there's one down there."
Almost cowering, Snippy apparated him into the basement, before quickly leaving with a crack. The sound in the basement seemed to conduct much better, and he was able to hear small whimpers coming from the dark. It was only used for storage and as a wine cellar, so the large rectangle was relatively easy to navigate without light. Regardless, wanting to see the beast he was about to deal with, he lighted the gasoline lamp in his hand after a few tries. Holding the light forward, he almost dropped it noting the gleam of a silver cage, with a twitching shape inside. He took a few steps forward, feeling a strange mix of curiosity and fear and raised the lamp.
He stifled a gasp at the view. Putting the lamp on a nearby table, he rushed to the cage. It wasn't a monster! It was his mother! He recognized her from the secret photo of her in his grammar book. Not wanting to forget her face, he looked at it everyday before his lessons.
She groan in pain and he dropped to his knees, putting himself level with her. "Mother? what are you doing here?"
Deep inside he knew the answer, as he saw her twist and groan in pain. Reaching a hand in, to touch her, he heard and yell from behind and stood.
His father was 10 feet away, staring at him while gasping for breath, with Snippy cowering in the background. And then he moved, rushing forward, "Gab!" His name came out as a tortured gasp, just as Gabriel registered a sharp stinging pain on his right shoulder.
Declart quickly pulled his son away, but not before Jaquiline tore at her son's arms with her now extended claws. Scooping Gabriel up, he muttered a quick episky, before sadly noting that the skin did not knit up. The marks would scar. Gabriel was shaking, staring as his mother transformed into a hideous beast. A wail broke his poor Gab out of his stupor, "What are you doing! She's in pain, help her, make her stop! " He broke into sobs, and Delart simply pressed the edge of his shirt to Gabriel's wound. Snippy then apparated them to his room and soon returned with potions and healing salves.
Upon Snippy's return, Declart forced Gabriel to drink a sleeping draught before setting to work on healing the wound. Finally, after coating it with salves and wrapping it securely, Declart stood stretching. He paced for a bit, before succumbing to exhaustion and vowing to speak to Gabriel tomorrow. Collapsing next to his son, he nestled Gabriel between his arms and fell asleep.
Gabriel woke up the next morning feeling disoriented, before an intense pain in his arm brought his eyes wide open and made them tear. Snippy, who had been standing next to his bed staring anxiously, noted he was awake and ran to call Master Gris. As Declart entered the room, Gabriel tried valiantly to sniff back his tears, but his father chose to tactfully ignore him and had Snippy hand him a pain relieving potion.
His father then sat heavily in his chair, "Son, we need to talk."
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