Remus almost wanted to laugh as he writhed in agony, the feeling of the monster tearing its way through his body with an unstoppable ferocity all too familiar. Despite it being a monthly occurrence, he was completely defenceless as it sliced through his veins smoothly, his bones splintering into his flesh. Afraid to even grit his teeth together, for fear of more pain, he lay quiet, as his body contorted itself, bending with little resistance like elastic, to accommodate the beast. Remus could feel his control slowly draining out of him, before his 'little problem' devoured his body entirely. He was able to get a glimpse of himself in a fragment of a mirror that had shattered on the ground, and was able to watch as the childish worry in his scarred face was replaced with an animalistic hunger. He lay there, flinching at every movement, remembering the words of his peers. Too often he had heard that his disease was a mind numbing existence, one that he wouldn't remember once it was over, painless, purposeful and almost bliss.
The wolf shook itself and began to pace the room. Remus felt the yearning rumbling in its stomach, its blood pumping through its distorted humanoid body. It continued to pad around, sniffed the air, and pawed at the barricaded doors, letting out a soft whine. Remus used to feel sorry for it, before it grew tired of the imprisonment, and began, instead, to claw at his skin.
The room was small. Small, quiet and marked with ugly scars, just how one would describe Remus, if they saw him on any other day but today. And so it was surprisingly easy for the wolf to hear the voices of three troublemakers, making their way through the secret passageway to the beast's cursed confinement.
"Are you s-s-ure this is a good idea?" cried a timid voice. Remus' ears pricked just as the wolf's did, recognising the voice. Peter Pettigrew. A boy, quite smaller than Remus, but considerably more round in build, no match for the beast's quick instinct.
"Of course it's a good idea!" James Potter. Brave, stupidly brave. "We've spent months working this out. Do you really want to turn back now?"
Remus cursed his blind recklessness, and his answer for everything, as the voices grew closer and the wolf stalked around the room, it's back arched and ready.
"It's a great idea! Think about poor old Remus, turning into a werewolf once a month. I bet that's a delightful feeling, Peter!" The last of the voices, dripping with sarcasm, completed the infamous quartet. Sirius Black. Remus had always questioned the ends to his endless loyalty, and perhaps he was about to find out.
His lycanthropy overpowered him, as Remus tried to comprehend the sudden, and dangerous, turn of events, his thoughts swirling amongst the wolf's pure hunger, as saliva dripped from its clenched jaws.
And then with a tumble and a shriek James, Sirius and Peter were sprawled on the floor in the middle of room. James was the first up, running a hand through his already messy black hair and smirking lopsidedly at the wolf. Smirking. Remus wanted to roll his eyes at James' never-ending cockiness, even in the face of certain death. Then Sirius, up in an instant, shaking out his unruly shoulder-length mane.
"Remus." Sirius nodded at the hulking figure like an old friend. Idiot. Remus wanted to signal to Sirius not to aggravate it, but was occupied with holding back the brute force and animalistic instinct of the creature. The beast hadn't moved yet, busy weighing up the prey, still deciding between an easy kill and the chase. And in an instant the wolf let out a howl and sprang towards the cowering figure of Peter, barely visible, standing now, but whimpering in the corner. Remus could smell his fear, emitting from him like cologne, intoxicating his thoughts. Thoughts about sinking his jagged teeth into the plump limbs of his friend, shredding apart his flesh. Amongst the chaos Remus barely noticed his friends raise their wands in unison and chant a spell he hadn't heard before.
In three consecutive flashes of white light, and an indistinguishable screeching sound, the wolf ran into the wall where Peter had once been. Confused and now aching, it searched for its disappearing victim, met instead with a rat scampering across the room and into a hole in the trapdoor from which the boys came. After a few moments not even the wolf's sharp hearing could hear the rat, scampering away cowardly. Remus sniffed the air, the aroma of the boys had been replaced with something else. Something decidedly more animalistic. The beast cried out, angry, and turned to face James and Sirius, but they too were gone. In their place were two large figures, a stag, standing proud, strong antlers projecting from his head, and a black dog, emitting a soft growl at the beast, gravelly and deep not unlike Sirius' voice. Remus could see his friends in the eyes of the animals, the tousled fur of the deer matching James' hair exactly, awed by their transformations.
The wolf however was more confused than ever, it snarled, sizing up his surroundings and finding it was greatly outnumbered. James gently padded toward Remus, before nudging him with the prongs of his antlers. Remus stayed fixed in place, surprised by his lack of fierce retaliation, instead extending a thin, pale limb and swatting the hind limb of the deer cautiously. After a small pause James scampered away childishly, completely unlike the arrogant swagger of his human self. The dog followed, its tongue lolling from the side of its mouth as it began to chase circles around Remus, its tail raised and wagging eagerly.
The moon, bright and full, floated in the sky. Once a constant reminder of Remus' ailment, it now silhouetted the shapes of three animals, a dog, a stag and a wolf as they dashed after one another, howling at the ghostly sign, away from the filthy shack and into the morning.