The sunbeams ate their way through the threadbare curtains, and shone through his eyelids. . Pain ebbed at his body in every breath and every heartbeat. His mouth was rough and dry, his arms weak and heavy. His neck was wet, and the rich smell of drying blood filled his nostrils.
Opening his eyes slowly in response to the agonising sunlight, Remus could see only outlines. A body by his bed, their chest rising and falling with sobs. A shadow by the doorway, hands hiding their face. What was this? Another game they were playing together?
He cried out. For someone, anyone, to tell him it was going to be alright. They turned to screams, as he felt fire course throughout his veins at every movement and with every word. His young voice was strained and hoarse, his tears burnt his eyes, his face contorting with fear and rage. The faces he saw looking on him, his shattered mother, his disconsolate father, mirrored his. Except theirs had no trace of a bite.