Summary: Before being Professor Lupin, Remus went through several names that defined his existence. Remus, from before his birth to the moment he met Harry Potter.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: not mine, don't sue. Weirdspeak of first scene is intentional, they're speaking in another language. I have no idea of which category I should set for this story because it's a super weird half medieval-tale-like, half affectionate-parody, half I-really-put-some-serious-thought-and-research-in-this-plot kind of story (three halves make a well-rounded story).

Life of Remus

'What are you doing outside?' hissed Remus's mother. 'It's the full moon! Get back here now!'

It was nighttime and the moon was low, her creamy white light casting shadows on Remus's face. The little boy was lying down on the grass with his eyes wide open.

'I'm waiting for the moon to fall,' he answered.

'You're mad! Get here! Get back here!' she whispered furiously again, darting her black little beady eyes around her, expecting a monster to jump from behind the trees at any moment. 'You get back here right now!'

'I won't,' said Remus. He closed his eyes. 'She'll fall.'

'She will not!' His mother was becoming desperate. 'It's the full moon, please, get here, Remus, come on, get here!'

'I'll sleep here until she falls,' said Remus. 'I know she'll fall,' he repeated. 'I won't come. I'll see her fall. Fenrir, tell mother she'll fall.'

He heard her frenzied footsteps running to the house.

Remus Lupin lived with his mother Callisto and his father Yahya whose name was spelled John on official documents because of the Anglicization through which immigrants' names go. Yahya was from North Africa and Callisto's family was from the Far East of the Mediterranean Sea.

They had met in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, while looking for a job in the steel industry during World War Two. Yahya was a wizard who could only be described as self-centered and careless. Callisto was a Muggle who could not speak a word of English and had had to leave France because she was Jewish. They did not fall in love but they found companionship in each other's cautious secrecy and, when the War ended, they took a ferry back to Callisto's loved little hut in Paimpont, a town of Brittany.

De Gaulle and the French Fifth Republic came, and suddenly it was natural for Yahya and Callisto to have children. They had a male first-born that they named Fenrir after his maternal grandfather; he had his father's brown skin and his mother's small mouth. He was a weak baby who would cry for hours until his lungs would dry down. Both parents took night shifts at their job to win a satisfactory amount of money to raise their child.

Thirteen days after his birth, there was a fire while Callisto was out. She came back to the charred remains of her house and three corpses under the blinding white light of the full moon. It had been accidental magic, Yahya would discover later: a wild wolf had gotten inside by destroying the wooden door, led by the strong scent of the blood Fenrir's babysitter shed when she fell and opened her head on the floor. The baby had burned the house to defend himself against the beast.

March 1960 saw the birth of the Lupins' new baby boy. He was named Remus to honor his brother's life, in hope to reverse the curse that they thought stained the family since then. Remus had Callisto's light olive skin and Yahya's bright amber eyes. He was healthy. The parents rejoiced.

In August of 1967, Remus Lupin was seven and a bright little boy. He read French and spoke Breton and French. He had a rather active imagination: he would have dreams of a dark-skinned boy named Fenrir that he thought was magical, and this boy would tell him to watch over the moon to catch it in case it should fall.

It is important to mention that Yahya left the English wizarding world in 1939 by cowardice because he had angered Dullfang Greyback, the leader of a pack of werewolves, in killing his only born werewolf child. He had sworn revenge over the body of John's first living heir. The werewolf leader died in late 1965 and was replaced by his second born child who was already a twenty-year-old man, the strongest of the pack, Fenrir Greyback.

Fenrir Greyback was a ruthless murderer who lived for the taste of blood. He bit and scratched English children and left them to a life of misery with the moon curse after devouring their parents in front of them. It only took two years for Greyback to trace Yahya Lupin in his town. He hid in the forest for thirteen days. Each day brought him closer to the small house that sheltered the escapee family. On the last day, he strangled and bled a rabbit that he left of their front door. While they were running a beat for him in the forest, he hid under the bed of the littlest bedroom of the house.

Remus Lupin waited for the moon to fall under the hundreds of stars that were Fenrir's gleaming eyes.

Fenrir Greyback approached the sleeping body of the first living heir of the cursed Lupin family. The bright full moon allowed him to see each and every detail of the tranquil little boy's face.

Remus Lupin woke. 'Mother? Is that you?'

'I am Fenrir.'

It was at this occasion that Callisto Lupin, an unassuming Muggle who lived in a magical forest with a wizard as a husband, discovered magic and then was ripped apart by the strong jaws of an adult werewolf before the eyes of her child.

John Lupin took Remus, his son of seven years, in a trip with their newly-bought car. Cars were very expensive. Remus had not known his parents to have such riches that his father could buy a car the day after his mother's funeral. Remus had not known much about his father.

'You were a wizard,' said Remus's father. He was watching the road, his eyes focused on the scenery before the car. 'I am a wizard as well.'

He took his hands off the steering wheel as the car speeded up in direction of a tree. 'And now you are as much of a monster as –'

Nobody knew who this tall man with an equally long beard that came to care for Remus Lupin was. It was assumed by the doctors that conceded the boy to him that this man was an estranged great-grandfather who had separated from the family because his delusion of being Merlin was neither understood nor accepted. He certainly looked and acted the part.

Remus Lupin himself was the subject of rumors in Paimpont for a long while after his departure for the United Kingdom. He had been attacked by some kind of vicious wolf-beast, would say one inhabitant to another. His mother died just right there, you see, in front of him, the poor thing. And then, his father tried to kill them both! And he survived this crash that got his father into a coma even though he's such a scrawny little thing!

Remus the werewolf was transferred into a place in Britain that was called St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They ran some tests on him. He found his hand burning when it came into contact with one of the coins the bearded man, Professor Dumbledore, gave him on the day he was first allowed to roam London. Professor Dumbledore said 'oh' and gave him more bronze coins instead.

It took one year and two months for John Lupin to wake up from his coma. He had to wait another three months until his remaining injuries were deemed sufficiently healed and his body strong enough that he could be released from the Muggle hospital that had taken him in. There was no money left in his pockets because of the car he had bought. He had to stay two years to pay off his hospital stay. He worked at night and in the morning, napped four hours, and spent what little time was left to look for cures for lycanthropy.

Remus-the-werewolf was ten, and still as bright as three years before, when the wizard who had fathered him slithered back into his life. It started by a stranger following him in the street from his foster home to school and back, continued with muffled pleas of 'Remus, son' behind doors that Remus held close with all his werewolf strength, and was finalized at Remus's eleventh birthday.

Professor Dumbledore came back to Remus this day. He thanked his foster family (it was the thirteenth one and none had liked Remus, the weird kid who had seen his mother die and had been bitten by the same beast and fell ill once a month) for their hospitality and brought Remus to a small Muggle café in London. He carried gold coins and a letter written in green ink. At the café, the man who greeted them in a waiter uniform was a shocked John Lupin.

They all ate ice cream together. Professor Dumbledore ordered three servings of lemon ice cream with lemon sauce, and a double chocolate ice cream cone for Remus, with tea for the both of them. It was delicious. John Lupin took a small vanilla ice cream and a strong coffee.

Remus was going to Hogwarts and chocolate was delicious. His father wanted him to try other tests to find a cure for his condition. Professor Dumbledore said he could go to Hogwarts.

'What the hell!' exclaimed Sirius. His eyebrows rose up to his hairline. 'Whoa, wow!'

'You're joking, right?' said James.

Peter shook his head. 'No, I'm sure. It would be too much of a coincidence! He's always sick when it's a full moon!'

'But he's not really sick,' insisted James, 'he goes to see his mother who's ill or his grandfather who passed away and the travel's tiring so that's why he's tired.'

Peter shook his head again, more vehemently, and put his hands on his hips. 'Flooing or even taking the train back home for eight hours just can't make you that exhausted!'

Sirius threw his arms into the air. 'Oh come on guys!' The door creaked open – none of the three boys heard it. 'We're not seriously discussing whether sweet little Remus could be a werewolf!'

The door was silently shut.

Peter Pettigrew found his roommate Remus Lupin / Remus-the-werewolf sitting close to the lake. The Whomping Willow was swinging its branches against the wind. He sat down next to him.

'So you're a werewolf, right?' he asked unashamedly.

Remus looked at his shoes. 'Yes,' he mumbled.

Peter smirked. 'I knew it! James and Sirius don't believe me. They say you're too girly to be a werewolf. I think you're definitely cool enough.'

Remus blinked twice and blushed. He ducked his head further into his chest. 'I'm not cool, I'm a monster.'

'Who said that!' yelled Peter. Remus stared at him with surprise and incomprehension. 'I'm gonna deck him!'

Remus chuckled. 'You can't, it's my father. He's too big for you.'

Peter deflated but still looked ready to punch someone.

They were alone in their dorm. Sirius had been trying to grab Remus's attention for two hours and he was getting quite annoyed at being ignored.

'Remus Lupin, you look at me right now or I'll steal your chocolate pudding at dinner!' he thundered, towering over the small mousy-haired boy.

Remus finally let his book on Potions fall on his bed. Sirius got him into a headlock.

'How dare you ignore me,' he shouted in a shrill voice, 'you silly little woodpecker! How dare you ignore your best friend, the Great Sirius!' He rubbed Remus's hair with his fist.

Remus managed to disentangle himself from Sirius's arms. 'You're especially loud and insistent today, are you?'

Sirius made a kissy face. 'Oh Remie-poo, I just can't leave my darling alone.' He made a go at Remus's ribs to tickle him. Remus stepped away.

'You do not want to tickle a werewolf, Sirius…' he warned.

Sirius stopped what he was doing. His mouth fell open.

Remus squirmed. 'What!'

'I bet James two Galleons you would never admit it unless I torture-tickled you!' yelled Sirius. 'Give me back my two Galleons, you cheater, I'm sure you and James conspired against me!'

Remus, a Gryffindor Prefect in his fifth year of education at Hogwarts, was standing at the entrance of an empty classroom that he and his friends James, Sirius and Peter had claimed as theirs a few years ago. Sirius had conjured a thick string of opaque fabric to cover his eyes and had led him by the hand until he had screamed 'Don't move!' and Remus had frozen.

Sirius whistled in appreciation at something Remus could not see. 'That's awesome guys! Remus, you'll love it!'

Remus stayed unresponsive, knowing that doing anything might send rotten tomatoes or any other classy food flying toward him. There was a clicking noise at the back of the room.

'Alright Remmie,' continued Sirius, 'now I want you to count up to five out loud, and when you get to five, the cloth will fall off by itself and you'll have the best birthday present of your LIFE!'

'One,' said Remus.

What was going on with his friends?

'Two.'

He had forgotten it was his birthday already.

'Three. Four.'

There was some kind of impalpable tension that had him want to rush the numbers out of his mouth.

'Five!' He could see!

Wow.

Where Remus was certain Sirius had been standing was a big black dog that pounced on him, making him fall. It started licking his face. Remus stared, bemused, at the large stag that walked up to him with shaking legs and bowed its head to him. Between the stag's antlers was a cute pudgy grey rat that seemed very nervous.

The rat looked every inch like Remus's friend Peter, down to the whiskers; only Sirius would shower him with dog slobber; so the stag had to be James, which suited him as he did have some pride.

Remus made no attempt to stand up, stunned. The rat scurried down the stag's leg and the three animals morphed into Peter, James and Sirius. Sirius had changed mid-lick and was still putting saliva all over Remus's face – it snapped him out of his stupor.

'Eww, Sirius, that's disgusting…'

Sirius looked crestfallen. 'You hate dogs? But… we're gonna help you with your transformations since you won't turn us if you bite us as animals… You can't hate dogs…'

'No,' amended Remus with a smile, 'what's disgusting is that you put your human tongue on my cheek right after wetting it with lots and lots of dog drool.'

James grimaced. 'That's gross!' Sirius exploded in laughter. They all hugged.

It was a nice thing that James and Lily had chosen a sunny day to get married, Remus reflected. One had to consider that some people just could not help smelling like wet dogs when it rained – and here he was completely talking about Sirius and himself.

Somehow, as the just-married couple had drifted closer in their seventh and last year at Hogwarts, Remus and Sirius's relationship had begun to unravel. There was no more nightly visit into Sirius's bed when Remus's back ached and nobody else is as gifted with massages as Sirius is. There was no longer laughter in Sirius's eyes when he glanced at Remus – it had been replaced by an odd kind of seriousness that did not fit them.

Remus wondered why. Was it because he was a werewolf? Surely Sirius had realized that years before, so that could not be the case. And yet, if he was not mistaken, there was also this same strange dull distrust in James's tone when he talked to him. The invitation to the wedding had been delivered to him by an extremely excited Lily who could not stop talking – not by Lily and James.

Peter was also absent a lot. Fortunately, he had been able to come at the wedding. In fact, he was even on a lot of the photos. On the contrary, Remus had been asked several times during the evening to take the place of the photographer, and he was sure he had not been shot by the camera more than twice when he was not behind it, though there were already at least fifty pictures.

When Remus had to leave a letter on his desk and shoo the owl as he suddenly could not recall James's, Lily's and Harry's address, he realized they had hid it from him because they suspected him of being this traitor that Albus Dumbledore had been evoking at Order meetings.

'I see,' he muttered.

Once again, Remus Lupin was back to being Remus the werewolf.

Professor Lupin saw Harry Potter in the train for Hogwarts through the window on the compartment's door.

It was as though all air had been expelled from his torso. He slumped into the compartment and closed his eyes, hoping he and his friends would see him and leave him alone because sharing a small room with an adult is no fun when you're thirteen.

No such luck.

Oh well, facing Grindylows is still a better choice than getting silted up.