Nightmare
Remus Lupin lay in bed with his eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened the night before. His head was sore, he felt stiff and bruised, and he was very tired. He felt like a wall had fallen on him, and given him partial amnesia.
He felt even worse as his memory returned - still a bit hazy, as it always was after a transformation. He remembered going with Dumbledore to the room under the Whomping Willow, and he remembered escaping, out into the branches, which explained the bruising.
As Remus lay thinking, the rest of the room's occupants began to wake up. Peter Pettigrew fumbled his way to the bathroom, and Sirius Black looked at his watch, groaned, rolled over, and fell off the bed.
James Potter was nowhere to be seen - Remus assumed he was at Quidditch practice, and would come back later, muddy and clutching his broomstick, in time for classes.
But he was proved wrong when James came into the room carrying two enormous books. He stopped when he saw Remus looking at the books, and shifted his hand so that the titles were illegible.
He went over to Sirius and whispered in his ear, then walked out again, clutching the books in one hand, while trying to smooth down his hair with the other.
Sirius knocked on the bathroom door, and, when Peter opened it, muttered something to him. Remus heard the words "Forest" and "won't check there."
After quickly changing into their day clothes, Peter and Sirius gathered a few textbooks and left. As they went, they said "See you at breakfast, Ray."
Remus was pretty sure they were up to something, as they hadn't remarked on his bruises and his black eye, where the tree had hit him.
He would have liked to stay in bed longer, as he was always tired after the first moon-night, but some of the teachers thought he was trying to milk his 'homolupine'-ness for sympathy, Professor MacCarthy especially. Patricia MacCarthy was the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, and had been against him coming to Hogwarts in the first place. Now that he was in Fifth Year, and growing into his 'Powers', she was petitioning Dumbledore to have him 'removed' from the school. She said that he was a menace to everyone in the school, and that monsters shouldn't be treated as equals.
He sighed, and got up. It was at times like these that he missed his family. He wished he could to someone about the problems of being a wolf five days out of every month. He had thought that he could talk to his friends about anything, and, indeed, he used to be able to confide in them about the Change, but lately, they seemed to avoid the subject.
And there were other problems he wanted to talk about, aside from the four- paws-and-fur thing. Things his friends didn't know about. Dumbledore knew, of course - he had made sure to find out everything he could about Remus' life, but there were some things that you couldn't talk to the principal about.
Remus felt sick as he recalled the scene - neighbours crowding around the house, old friends whispering, and total strangers pointing at his family and shouting "Bloody werewolves!"
The pointing and whispering was bad enough, but when people began to act upon their feelings and hurting not only him, but the rest of his family, did he really feel guilty. He was sure it was his fault they were being persecuted - after all, if he hadn't been a werewolf, then people would have had no reason to hurt them.
He retched, then ran into the bathroom and threw up. He had broken his promise to himself and thought about Alice - his sister.
She had only been five at the time, three years younger than him, and had looked even younger. She'd had long, curly red hair and brown eyes - he never understood how anyone could even think she was a werewolf, but they did.
She had just started primary school when the community turned against the Lupin family. She had already made a few friends, but they were ordered to stay away from "that monster, Alice" by their parents.
She hadn't understood what was happening - all she knew was that people were insulting her, and she couldn't think why. She drew into herself, gradually, so that it was only after a month or two that people realised how affected she was by all of it.
By then, she wasn't speaking very much, and she avoided looking at people if she could help it. After another month of constant persecution, she just sat in a corner and stared into space, first for hours, then days at a time.
Even at school, people began to notice. One of the braver and more sympathetic teachers spoke to Pat and Jan Lupin. She said that the standard of Alice's work had severely dropped, and that she was failing all her tests. She wasn't participating at all in class, and a few of the older students had started picking on her.
Soon, these older students had been joined by more students of all ages, who progressed from taunting her to physically harming her. Frequently, she came home with blood on her clothes, and cuts and bruises on her body. The other members of the household were busy being tormented as well, and were usually too preoccupied to notice. When anyone did comment, there was no reply, as she had given up speaking totally by then.
And then, one day, she didn't come home from school. The family was a bit worried, but it wasn't the first time she had been late. Remus' older sister, Laura, usually collected her from school, but the school was only a five-minute walk through the forest behind the house, with no streets to cross, so she sometimes walked home by herself.
At dinnertime, they were very worried, and at bedtime, they started combing the forest for her, along with a couple of neighbours that had come to terms with Remus' 'difference'.
At noon the next day, the police were called in. They combed the woods again, and questioned the inhabitants of the entire neighbourhood. It turned out that she had left school at the normal time, and had been seen going into the forest. For a few days, that was all they found.
Then, the police found a witness. A lady walking her dog in the wood saw a little girl being thrown into a van by two people. In her statement, she said "I was going over to help the little girl, but as I got closer, I saw it was one of the Lupin monsters, and I thought that it could probably take care of itself."
Two and a half painful and nerve-racking weeks followed, and then the police found her body, buried under some leaves in the forest.
The family moved house and started over in a new neighbourhood, but with one less family member.
Remus still blamed himself. He hated his Curse, and often tried to hurt himself while in confinement in his 'changing-room'. A sudden wave of nausea broke in on his musings. He vomited again, and then the combination of tiredness, pain (both emotional and physical) and stress overwhelmed him, and he fell on the floor in a faint.
Remus Lupin lay in bed with his eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened the night before. His head was sore, he felt stiff and bruised, and he was very tired. He felt like a wall had fallen on him, and given him partial amnesia.
He felt even worse as his memory returned - still a bit hazy, as it always was after a transformation. He remembered going with Dumbledore to the room under the Whomping Willow, and he remembered escaping, out into the branches, which explained the bruising.
As Remus lay thinking, the rest of the room's occupants began to wake up. Peter Pettigrew fumbled his way to the bathroom, and Sirius Black looked at his watch, groaned, rolled over, and fell off the bed.
James Potter was nowhere to be seen - Remus assumed he was at Quidditch practice, and would come back later, muddy and clutching his broomstick, in time for classes.
But he was proved wrong when James came into the room carrying two enormous books. He stopped when he saw Remus looking at the books, and shifted his hand so that the titles were illegible.
He went over to Sirius and whispered in his ear, then walked out again, clutching the books in one hand, while trying to smooth down his hair with the other.
Sirius knocked on the bathroom door, and, when Peter opened it, muttered something to him. Remus heard the words "Forest" and "won't check there."
After quickly changing into their day clothes, Peter and Sirius gathered a few textbooks and left. As they went, they said "See you at breakfast, Ray."
Remus was pretty sure they were up to something, as they hadn't remarked on his bruises and his black eye, where the tree had hit him.
He would have liked to stay in bed longer, as he was always tired after the first moon-night, but some of the teachers thought he was trying to milk his 'homolupine'-ness for sympathy, Professor MacCarthy especially. Patricia MacCarthy was the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, and had been against him coming to Hogwarts in the first place. Now that he was in Fifth Year, and growing into his 'Powers', she was petitioning Dumbledore to have him 'removed' from the school. She said that he was a menace to everyone in the school, and that monsters shouldn't be treated as equals.
He sighed, and got up. It was at times like these that he missed his family. He wished he could to someone about the problems of being a wolf five days out of every month. He had thought that he could talk to his friends about anything, and, indeed, he used to be able to confide in them about the Change, but lately, they seemed to avoid the subject.
And there were other problems he wanted to talk about, aside from the four- paws-and-fur thing. Things his friends didn't know about. Dumbledore knew, of course - he had made sure to find out everything he could about Remus' life, but there were some things that you couldn't talk to the principal about.
Remus felt sick as he recalled the scene - neighbours crowding around the house, old friends whispering, and total strangers pointing at his family and shouting "Bloody werewolves!"
The pointing and whispering was bad enough, but when people began to act upon their feelings and hurting not only him, but the rest of his family, did he really feel guilty. He was sure it was his fault they were being persecuted - after all, if he hadn't been a werewolf, then people would have had no reason to hurt them.
He retched, then ran into the bathroom and threw up. He had broken his promise to himself and thought about Alice - his sister.
She had only been five at the time, three years younger than him, and had looked even younger. She'd had long, curly red hair and brown eyes - he never understood how anyone could even think she was a werewolf, but they did.
She had just started primary school when the community turned against the Lupin family. She had already made a few friends, but they were ordered to stay away from "that monster, Alice" by their parents.
She hadn't understood what was happening - all she knew was that people were insulting her, and she couldn't think why. She drew into herself, gradually, so that it was only after a month or two that people realised how affected she was by all of it.
By then, she wasn't speaking very much, and she avoided looking at people if she could help it. After another month of constant persecution, she just sat in a corner and stared into space, first for hours, then days at a time.
Even at school, people began to notice. One of the braver and more sympathetic teachers spoke to Pat and Jan Lupin. She said that the standard of Alice's work had severely dropped, and that she was failing all her tests. She wasn't participating at all in class, and a few of the older students had started picking on her.
Soon, these older students had been joined by more students of all ages, who progressed from taunting her to physically harming her. Frequently, she came home with blood on her clothes, and cuts and bruises on her body. The other members of the household were busy being tormented as well, and were usually too preoccupied to notice. When anyone did comment, there was no reply, as she had given up speaking totally by then.
And then, one day, she didn't come home from school. The family was a bit worried, but it wasn't the first time she had been late. Remus' older sister, Laura, usually collected her from school, but the school was only a five-minute walk through the forest behind the house, with no streets to cross, so she sometimes walked home by herself.
At dinnertime, they were very worried, and at bedtime, they started combing the forest for her, along with a couple of neighbours that had come to terms with Remus' 'difference'.
At noon the next day, the police were called in. They combed the woods again, and questioned the inhabitants of the entire neighbourhood. It turned out that she had left school at the normal time, and had been seen going into the forest. For a few days, that was all they found.
Then, the police found a witness. A lady walking her dog in the wood saw a little girl being thrown into a van by two people. In her statement, she said "I was going over to help the little girl, but as I got closer, I saw it was one of the Lupin monsters, and I thought that it could probably take care of itself."
Two and a half painful and nerve-racking weeks followed, and then the police found her body, buried under some leaves in the forest.
The family moved house and started over in a new neighbourhood, but with one less family member.
Remus still blamed himself. He hated his Curse, and often tried to hurt himself while in confinement in his 'changing-room'. A sudden wave of nausea broke in on his musings. He vomited again, and then the combination of tiredness, pain (both emotional and physical) and stress overwhelmed him, and he fell on the floor in a faint.