Author: Werewolftrixie (WWT)
Story Title: Violet Pain
Chapter title: Indifferent and Different with a Side of Friendship
Rating: pg-13... for now, and just to be sure.
Genre: Romance, Drama, tragedy
Characters: OC, Remus Lupin
Pairing: Can't tell you yet, but there's going to be some rivalry over one specific person. I'm not going to tell you anything else, however! -insert evil cackle-
Warnings: OC as a major character. Marauders' era. I hate to say it, but I can't put two of the warnings in that I should, because, well, It would give away the two prizes I offer at the end of this chapter!
AN: I hope to wrap this story up in a few chapters, but it may end up being complex and needy of more. Hope you enjoy.
Violet Pain
Part one- Indifferent and Different with a Side of Friendship
Remus Lupin, 16, sat on the ledge of his window, the cold rough stone rubbing relentlessly against his skin through the thin pajamas. He should have known to pack heavier clothes; the pamphlet had said it would be chilly here. Speaking of said pamphlet, he looked down at it, bored, and took a drag of his cigarette, the thin wavering smoke drifting out into the dark, night sky through the open window. Snow drifted peacefully to the ground in the winter breeze of the secluded Russian town... If one could even call it a town; it was mostly just the hospital he was currently in and an Inn for those who come to visit patients.
He was almost beginning to regret coming here. He hadn't even been there a whole day, and he was already weary of the smells and the nurses. They had advertised a program for those with Lycanthropy and other such "incurables" in which they were experimenting with different potions to try to cure the various ailments. His mother, ever eager to rid him of his worrisome burdens, had signed him up for it immediately. And so, he'd been packed off to this little hospital. He took another drag and continued to stare out into the trees (barren, though, they were) and remained completely oblivious to any other patients. It was, after all, a hospital and people were liable to walk aimlessly up and down the corridors at all hours of the night.
"You really shouldn't do that, you know, It's terrible for your health. Not that your lungs would really be affected by it so much. But you could possibly consider those of us who aren't afflicted with Lycanthropy." Remus whirled to find the source of the voice. A melodious, yet slightly monotone and dour toned voice.
It belonged to the girl propped up in the doorway of his small room, curtains of long black, edge-straight hair that went down to about the end of her ribcage falling around her like a blanket, shimmering ethereally in the annoyingly bright moonlight. Her vivid purple eyes stood out, almost glowing, standing out even more by dark, 'Gothic' makeup making her pale, pale skin seem like all the more porcelain like. An inky black eyebrow arched, and, although most wouldn't believe him if he told them the girl was joking (as there was no true sign of this in her expression), he was sure she was indeed, being playful in her own unique way. Remus had been so distracted by the girl's face and the simple fact he hadn't heard her coming in, that he was just not noticing the bandages that wrapped every inch of her, from the neck, down, traveling under the corset and shredded skirt she sported. They twisted around her every limb, the only thing excluded were her face, delicate hands, and bare feet.
He put the cigarette out, jabbing it against the cool, wet bricks just outside, then flicked it. Remus' eyes never left her. She began to walk in a bit farther, now, emboldened by the lack of toxins in the room now. Her hips swayed mercilessly as she sauntered in, extending her hand. He was still a bit slow on his reaction time and couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as he reached out to grasp the snow white, ice cold hand. It had stayed unwavering in the offer. "Amire Wolfe. That's Ah-meer. People can never get it right."
"Lupin. Remus Lupin." He returned, cautiously.
"So, Remus, what do you like?" she made a very brief pause before nonchalantly continuing, "Sorry if I'm intruding or something, but I've been here for a day and a half, and no one else I've seen so far here is remotely civilized, and I read five of my novels already." She reclined back on his bed "Needless to say, I'm pretty desperate for something to do."
"Desperate?"
"Oh, not that you're bad company, I wouldn't know yet, would I? I just meant that I hardly ever talk to anyone. That's probably the most sentences I've strung together off of a piece of paper in, oh, say, a month... or two." Remus kept staring at the girl, lounging back on his mattress. Oh, she had asked a question, hadn't she? Now that he was catching up, he could see that she was still waiting as patiently as an angel.
"I, er... well, um." He typically was not this inarticulate, but this girl was coming from absolutely nowhere. "I like to read, so I guess we have something in common..."
"Oh, what are some of your favorites?"
"Er, that's a tough one... I guess it would have to be the classics, like, say... Shakespeare and Poe. There's tons more, but..."
"I know, I'm dreadfully sorry for barging in on you like this. But, really, everyone I've met or seen here can't speak proper English and they're driving my absolutely bonkers!" She rolled her eyes, and turned over onto her stomach.
"I don't really have any favorites, either, though... too many books to consider." Remus couldn't help but laugh at the similarity between what he'd just been thinking and what she'd expressed. Her solemn, stoic, and bored expression didn't waver at all. It was a tad unnerving, but he could feel that this was exactly what the girl was like very nearly all the time. "You go to school?"
"Yeah, Hogwarts."
"Lucky. I wish I could go to school. I tried, but my condition... it kind of hindered that endeavor. I've had to teach myself, mostly, foster parents are... not typically all that great at magic, but I have permission from the ministry to do it, so I'm all good."
"Wow... Foster parents?" The girl didn't seem to be the kind of girl that was overly sensitive about that kind of subject. She told it like it is.
"My mum accidentally killed Dad when he forgot to leave the house one full moon. When Mum woke up the next morning and saw what had happened, the only thing in his mind was to commit suicide"
"What? How can you..." He was shocked, how could someone be so emotionally detached with something of that magnitude?
"Because, I don't really blame him; I probably would do the same thing."
"You'd kill yourself, despite the fact that you had a kid?"
"Well, when you have more than two people who give a shit that you're alive, it may be different, but my mum only had me and Dad. ...Knew I would understand."
"Why- Why did she only-"
"Full moon. I thought you could at least get that hint."
"She was a werewolf?" Amire gave a nod in response.
"So anyway, I'm constantly being shipped around from foster family to foster family and the condition usually makes it hard to find even one of those to take me in."
For the next hour or two, she asked him questions, he asked her questions, and she divulged facts about her life in the process that most people break down in tears and hysterics about. For once in his life, Remus felt completely at ease with someone. He didn't even feel this at home with his best friends. He could tell Amire anything and she, for the most part, would understand.
Around three o'clock in the morning, Remus began to yawn, frequently so, and Amire began to eye the waxing gibbous moon. She began to rub her arms gingerly. He related it to the way he himself went to his scars when he did the same. Did her condition, which she had yet to mention (most likely the only thing she hadn't spilled), go to the rhythm of the moon, too? She smelled funny, but not exactly like a wolf which is what he would smell from her if she were afflicted with Lycanthropy. He decided not to ask her, however, as she was sitting up straighter, now, and readying to leave. She swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"I should go." Amire put out her legs to steady herself and began to push up a bit. However, as soon as she stood up, she began to wince, and her head reeled. Remus jumped to steady her. She seemed in pain. He wasn't really the best person to be doing this either; it was fairly close to the full and he was weakened.
"Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah," He paled a bit. She hadn't stuttered or hesitated once since they meant. Amire was obviously not fine. She began talking in between clenching and unclenching her hands "Could you... help me back to my room, it' s only a few doors down in number two-o-five."
"Of course." Helping her back to her room, shuffling the five doors down the hall, Remus helped his new friend set down on her own bed. He looked around to see stacks upon stacks of thick books stacked high on the small white desk. Titles of both muggle and wizarding origin were amongst them, both thick and thin. The bed, he noticed, was clad in a raggedy old black pillow and sheets with a stuffed wolf laying across the pillow.
"I knew I wouldn't be able to stand the itchy sheets they had on the bed, so I brought my own." she muttered.
"Should I get a nurse?"
"No. I'll tell the orderly in the morning. These episodes happen all the time. No need to wake anyone over them." she was sweating profusely now.
"What-"
"I feel like I'm on fire-" She began, but dropped the sentence as she began to whine and groan and whimper. "I'm fine. I'm used to it. You can leave."
"But-"
"I'm fine!"
"But- I can stay if you want. Just tell me if I can help, please!"
"I guess, if you really want to." She got out when the pain subsided momentarily. "It couldn't hurt, but really, I don't want to be a bother, Remmy."
"It's no problem... It's weird, but you don't- Normally, this close to the full moon, I get anxious around humans, but with you... I don't. You don't smell like a human, but I can't smell a specific animal, either." She was silent and it created a slightly awkward, tense air in the small, mostly sterile room.
"Are you going to stay? Like you said you would?"
"Oh, right, of course..." He chuckled awkwardly. She rolled her eyes in that way of hers, and lifted the sheets so he could slip under as well.
"Well, get in if you're getting in." She said deadpan, "Come on, you're letting a bunch of cold air in..."
"If you feel as if you're on fire, one would think you'd want as much cold as you could manage to get your hands on." he laughed as he got under, the air less palpable by far. It was funny how not-awkward or tempting this situation was. Although Amire was most likely the closest to having a girlfriend he'd ever had, and no doubt was the most attractive girl he'd ever been this close to, he felt no attraction to her in the way a typical guy would have in relation to a female. He was sure that if Sirius was in this situation, he'd have unzipped that silken, though quite worn, corset by now. Sirius... I wonder what old Pads would think of her.
As Remus felt his lids begin to droop, he began to think about the day's events. It had been, he decided, a wonderfully successful first day. Summing the past few hours up, he found what could only back up that proposition. Until of course, things started to pop into his sleep addle brain, that didn't quite match up and began to lead to questions, more than he had thought he would have for her, and more that went unanswered than answered even when he sifted through what she had given him. What was even more quizzical, was that he was unable to get answers when Amire had given him such a huge quantity of history. She had been nearly unyielding in the sheer amount she revealed about her personal stream of time. One in particular was niggling at him in particular.
I'll give a very special virtual fountain of very special melted chocolate if anyone can guess what that particular niggling thought was. And also, I'll give a second fountain to who ever can figure out what the pairing will turn out to be in the end~ -wink wink nudge nudge-
