Don't own Harry Potter, wish I did.
Chapter One, In which Remus Damns the Torpedoes and Changes his Life.
He sat on the ground withering in pain, and screaming for someone, anyone, to come, and help him. His mother had told him not to go outside, but, as always, he had ignored her, and did what he pleased despite her warnings.
There was someone coming now! Remus couldn't control his happiness, they had finally found him!
"Remus, son, what happened?" his father asked as he kneeled down, and put his young son's head in his lap.
"I don't know, Daddy. I don't remember!" Remus cried.
His father sighed before saying, "Well tell me what you do remember."
Remus began to tell his father of what had happened the night before.
Remus John Lupin couldn't wait to go outside as it was finally warm enough for his adventures to start again. He sat by the door, and looked longingly out of it. His mother would come up every once in a while to make sure that he was still there; she had already told him once that day that he would have to wait until tomorrow to play.
Unfortunately, Remus was a rather stubborn, and could see no reason why he couldn't go out that day. Fortunately, or so Mrs. Lupin thought, Remus would very rarely defy her explicit instructions, or at least when she was looking.
It was decided, as the sun set and the full moon began to rise, that Remus was to bathe and go to his room. Mrs. Lupin promised him that she would read to him as soon as the dishes were done.
Remus did as he was told, and went to his bedroom but even as he lay there, waiting for his mother, he longed to be outside. When his mother finally entered Remus had already resolved to go outside after his mother and father had gone to bed.
"Remus" his mother said with a sigh.
"Yes, Mummy?" he asked sweetly.
"Do you know why you bcan't/b go outside today?"
"Because you and daddy told me not to," he answered as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Will it make you feel better if I tell you why you can't go outside?"
"Yes," he lied, still set in his choice to go outside no matter what.
"It's a full moon..." she started.
"So? Mummy, I've been outside on a full moon before!" Remus whined.
"Sweetheart there are dangerous things that lurk around when the moon's full, and Daddy and I just worry for you, alright?" his mother said to him with frustration running through her voice.
"Okay, Mummy" Remus said, deciding not to bring it up again, but still set on leaving the house. Changing the subject he handed his mother a fairy tale book, and asked her to read it to him.
As his mother read to him he pretended to drift off into sleep. His mother stopped reading, and kissed his hairline whispering, "You'll understand someday Remus. All we want to do is keep you safe".
As soon as he heard the door click behind him Remus jolted up. He smiled deviously as he walked to the only window in his room, and unlocked it. He opened it, and felt out, mostly to insure that the tree was as close as he estimated; it was. He swung his legs over, and balanced them on the tree. Making sure he could keep his balance he slowly let go of the house, and inched towards the trunk. As he shimmied down he noticed how beautiful the moon was. He still couldn't believe that his parents had tried to keep him from enjoying this lovely night. As a four year old, for one month already thank you, he had no sense of danger, but he was sure that such an amazing thing couldn't produce anything dangerous.
Remus began to wander around his yard; it was rather large considering that the Lupins were a rather affluent family with a large house that matched the yard. As he neared his favorite tree, a weeping willow on the edge of the property, he heard a low growl from the forest by it. Thinking nothing of it the boy kept walking towards the tree, he planned to look at the stars from between its hanging branches. As Remus sat down he turned around as the growling seemed to be closer than before.
Staring him in the eye was a fully grown werewolf. Remus' instincts failed him as he stood in front of the monster like a lame duck. As he opened his mouth to scream the monster mauled him. His last memory of the night was the monster jumping towards him, and his evil amber eyes staring straight into Remus' chocolate brown ones.
"That's all I remember, Daddy!" the young boy bawled as his father stroked his hair lovingly.
"It's alright. I'm going to take you to Mungo's, and everything will be alright," Mr. Lupin said as he gripped his son, and apparated to St. Mungo's.
The Healers rushed Remus into a room, but wouldn't allow his father to follow them. Mr. Lupin flooed home to tell his wife that Remus had left the house the night before, and he was currently at the hospital. She immediately came to St. Mungo's with a calm expression, but it was clear that she was also worried.
The Healers were in the room with Remus for almost the entire day, but they made sure to come out and inform the Lupins of their options, and their son's progress, regularly. The last report of the night was the most informative, and the most biased as well.
"Mr. and Mrs. Lupin," the Healer said as he approached them, "we have to talk some things over, if you could just follow me."
The Lupins obliged, and the Healer led them into an office with white walls and a tile floor, much like one in a kitchen. The room was obviously used to tell families bad news all the time; Mr. Lupin later swore that he could feel the bad memories radiating off the walls.
"So about your boy," the Healer started.
"Remus," his mother said, "his name is Remus."
The Healer sighed as he realized that ithese/i parents wouldn't like what he was about to suggest to them.
"So far he's done a lot better than most of the kids that Greyback sends in here, but he's going to lead a hell of a life now. That's exactly why we offer the parents of such iunfortunates/i options. We at St. Mungo's highly suggest, to all parents whose children survive the attacks, that they take immediate action to prevent more monsters and put the new ones down."
"Why would I ever kill my baby!?" Mrs. Lupin screeched.
Rather than expressing his true feelings, and telling them that should really just kill the thing, he nodded and decided to move on to the other options.
"Of course, ma'am. I would never want to force anyone to do anything that they wouldn't want to do. Our second most popular option here at Mungo's is putting the ichild/i in a Ministry protection area where they will grow up with those like them, and live for the rest of their lives."
"I think we'll just take Remus home," Mr. Lupin said, his voice revealing that he and his wife had been planning nothing but bringing their son home.
"Sir, I must warn you that you'll both be putting yourselves in danger by bringing him there. If you want him to live the Ministry protection area really is the best spot," the Healer pressed.
"No thank you. I don't care how dangerous it will be; Remus is our son, and we will be bringing him home," Mr. Lupin insisted before grabbing his wife's hand and leaving the room.
The Lupins brought Remus home as soon as he was discharged, and they tried to make him feel the same as he had before the accident. Remus pretended to feel the same, but he suddenly felt like an ever-present burden on his parents. They had built a small, but big enough, cabin of sorts where he could transform every month, and they had bought many healing supplies and potions that most families would never need, but they would be using every month. Those two days not only had Remus damned the torpedoes, against his parents' advice, but his parents had as well, and they would be for the rest of their lives.