A/N:
This one shot has been written as part of a challenge set by the lovely people over at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments). The task was to write about Remus Lupin during his time as a student at Hogwarts, including a visible representation of his suffering as a werewolf.
Extra character: Peter Pettigrew.
Gringotts Prompt Bank: Sadness/Depression Quote 4: "I'm so terrified of the nightmares that I just stopped falling asleep." - Unknown [10 Points Bonus]; Dialogue from TV show 5 - We can be happy in the future or we can be angry about the past." - Maleficent, Once Upon a Time; First line 4 – They had been in dire situations before.
Almost
They had been in dire situations before. However this time was far worse than any of the thousands of times they had been here.
Peter trembled in the corner of The Shrieking Shack, hidden in the shadows, as he watched his closest friend in the world tearing aggressively and scratching wildly at the walls. He had lost the last little shred of self control he possessed when he was like this and this terrified Peter.
Remus bared his teeth at Peter, and snarled before lunging for him; he squealed like a pig and transformed into his animagus form of a rat and scuttled away quickly into the crack in the wall.
Where were James and Sirius? he thought desperately to himself as he quaked violently on his paws. Peter had never been on his own with Remus before when he was in werewolf form, and he was positively petrified.
Remus sniffed the air and howled; he caught sight of Peter in rat form and prepared to pounce on him. He leaned back onto his hind legs and eyed up his prey, the only bit of food around the place. The rat, albeit small and nasty smelled absolutely delicious in that moment to Remus, even though he would much rather be tearing into the flesh of something much more substantial.
As the werewolf sprung, two other animals jumped on him driving him away from his prey and straight into the reinforced wooden wall of the shack. Together the stag and the dog worked to subdue the werewolf, who had very nearly done something that he would live to regret. Meanwhile, Peter watched on too afraid to move for fear that his best friend would lunge for him again at the slightest noise.
"Peter," someone muttered in the distance, shaking him lighjtly on the shoulder. "Oi mate wake up." The voice sounded quite urgent and the shaking on his shoulder intensified so much that he thought whoever it was would end up dislocating his shoulder.
Peter opened his eyes and squinted. There above him stood his best friend, Remus Lupin, who looked worse for wear after last night. He was covered from head to toe in scratches and bite marks; deep, black bruises were beginning to appear under both of his eyes, and he had a large purple bruise right across his stomach. He winced at the sight of his friend looking so battered and bruised; sure he had seen him like this before but never this bad. He admired Remus so much for how well he seemed to cope with his lycanthropy, no matter how battered and bruised he got over the course of a full moon he always managed to look on the bright side of life.
"Morning Remus," he yawned, stretching both arms out above his head and sitting up.
The sixteen year old Remus bounced from one foot to the other nervously; he hadn't been able to believe it when James and Sirius had told him what he had almost done to Peter the night before. He felt completely and utterly disgusted with himself. How could he have almost killed his best friend? He had been mere moments away from doing it when the pair had turned up, and fought to subdue him. He wouldn't blame his friend if he never wanted to have anything to with him ever again.
"Peter, I'm so sorry," he whispered, scratching nervously at his arm. "I feel so completely ashamed of myself. I could've really hurt you mate."
Peter looked up at his friend. Remus had no reason to be ashamed of anything he had done. He wasn't to blame for his actions last night. When he expressed these sentiments to his friend, he wasn't having any of it.
"Peter you don't understand, that was my worst nightmare come true," he uttered loudly. "Don't tell James or Sirius this, but I'm so terrified of the nightmares that I just stopped falling asleep. I can't stand to see myself attacking and hurting you, and now it almost came true. You should stay well away from Wormtail, and so should Padfoot and Prongs."
Remus moved to leave the boys dormitory, but Peter refused to let him. He jumped from his bed, quicker than the muggle superhero The Flash, and was blocking his exit before he had moved more than a few paces.
"Stop! It's not your fault Moony, now get your arse back over there, sit down and listen to me," Peter demanded in such a commanding voice that Remus could do nothing but obey. It was probably the first time that Remus had ever seen Peter stand up and demand anything. "Now you listen to a piece of advice someone gave me not so long ago. We can be happy in the future or we can be angry about the past. I know which one I prefer, question is, which do you?"
Remus glared Peter. He couldn't believe that his own advice was being thrown back in his face. He could see Peter's point, but it didn't make him feel any less awful about himself, or change the fact that he would be safer and better off as far away from him as possible.
Begrudging he replied in a barely audible mutter, "To be happy in the future."
"Great, so that's enough of you blaming yourself. Shall we get changed and go to breakfast?" Peter asked cheerfully clapping his hands and hopping over to his trunk to get out his clothes for the day.
A/N:
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