Title: His Lycan Lily
Author:daemonwolf
Rating: PG-13 to R
Distribution: Ask, and you shall receive!
Disclaimer: Only things I own are the plotline and… well, the plotline. Everything else is copyright one J. K. Rowling.
Summary: Companion piece, actually the missing chapter(s) to FMR. Lily's a werewolf, Remus is blaming himself, and Sirius and James are as clueless as ever. (Lily/Remus)
Notes: This fic is me responding to those reviewers who reacted with 'Wow! Poor Remus!' and the like. Originally, I had only superficially thought to write a fic during the year-long hiatus between chapters four and five, but it's become moreso now that FMR is up and running. Also, keep in mind that this is a companion piece, meaning it deals within my version of Harry Potter, and if you read this without first reading the first few chapters (up to chapter four, at the least) of Full Moon Rising, I can guarantee you'll be exclaiming, 'what the fuck?' within the first few paragraphs. That said, if you do understand the realm I'm working in without reading FMR, then many kudos to you!
His Lycan Lily
Chapter One: Afterbirth
James closed the door to Lily's bedroom, allowing her time to rest and feed their young son Harry. Born a month early, it was of great surprise to all members of the eclectic family (Remus and Peter excluded) that the baby Lily gave birth to was a perfectly healthy child.
"His name's Harry," James remarked to the other occupant of the small side room.
"Can I see her?" Came the reply. The speaker was one Sirius Black, James' longtime friend and Godfather of the child.
James shook his head mutely, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Sirius noticed, and got up out of his crouch on the floor to put an arm around his best friend. "How is she?"
"What? Apart from the lycanthropy?" James laughed bitterly. "She's fine. The injuries she sustained have already healed." He broke off suddenly and sat down on the small sofa, cupped his head in his hands, and finally gave into the sobs that had been threatening to break since he walked into the room.
"Hey, Prongs ol' pal, take it easy, eh? Lily's safe. We do have that."
"Safe? Sirius, she's been turned into a werewolf! I'm going to kill Remus for this," he shouted past the tears still streaming down his face. Sirius sat down next to James and put a hand on his shoulder, restraining the man grimly.
"Hold on there, Prongs. Just think about this for a moment. Remus is the best chance we've got at figuring out what to do with Lily. D'you want to have to go through everything with Lily just as we did with Remus? He can help! I know he can! If I knew we could beat this lycanthropy in Lily, you know I'd be the first to say 'to hell with it' and kill Remus for turning her, but we can't. That's the thing here. Lily doesn't know what to do, and Remus is the only one of the four of us who knows what it's like to go through a thing like that. So we can't kill him just yet."
James turned back to his friend. "Yet?"
Sirius smiled maliciously. "I didn't say anything about not killing Remus when Lily was used to the lycanthropy, did I?" He patted James once on the shoulder before standing up. "You'd better get some rest. I'm gonna go talk to Lily." James nodded, stretching out on the sofa as his friend opened the connecting door between the two rooms and checked on the newest werewolf ofthe family.
Down in the basement, a lone werewolf sat miserable, chewing at whatever he could find to try to alleviate the hunger and the emotions that plagued him. The wolf could not comprehend the feeling of guilt and remorse, but the human inside could, and the emotions confused the werewolf to no end. As a result, he destroyed everything that was not bolted down and when he was done, turned on himself.
"Hey Lils," Sirius said as he entered the room where Lily lay, cradling the baby to one of her breasts.
"Hey Padfoot. How's my husband?"
Sirius let out a small snort. "Until a few minutes ago, I was convinced he was gonna run down to the basement and kill Remus now. But he's calmed down a bit, I hope," he trailed off, taking in Lily's bloody clothing, and the suspicious lack of wounds on either of her arms. "How are you faring?"
Lily smiled. "Better than I'd thought. Once Harry was born, my wounds just sort of closed up. I must admit, though, I'm really tired."
Sirius held up a hand, forestalling any other comments. "Say no more, I'll let myself out." But he couldn't resist turning abruptly into a dog and nuzzling both mother and babe before leaving the room. Lily only smiled and let the sensation of Harry suckling at her breast send her to sleep.
The next morning dawned cold and dismal for early August. Rain had started falling early in the day, and by the time Sirius allowed a broken and beaten Remus from the basement, the streets outside the Marauder's Hideaway were rivers. The perfect end to a perfect night, Remus thought morbidly, his gaze twitching back and forth between the cold accusing blue eyes of his best friend to the window and back. Well, former best friend, Remus acknowledged, if the death glare Sirius was giving him was any indication. Habit and Auror training made Remus take stock of himself, preparing for a fight. Unfortunately, what he found wasn't encouraging. His clothing, or what was left of it, was in tatters, and he was bleeding slightly from multiple bite wounds on his legs and arms. Thankfully, though Sirius only took a long look at his one-time friend and spoke shortly. "Clean yourself up, then come and find me. We're going for a walk." Remus swallowed hard, still wondering if Sirius was going to rip his throat out. When the sometime dog did no such thing, Remus nodded mutely and left the room to scrounge up a more intact set of clothing.
Twenty minutes later, Remus emerged from the bathroom clean and bandaged, with a clean set of robes on. Sirius was waiting down the hall, umbrella in hand. He spoke not a word, but left the house and started down the walk, leaving Remus to hurry through the rain to catch up with him.
Finally, about five blocks down, Sirius caught Remus up to what had transpired after Remus was locked in the basement. From his and James' arrival to the birth of Harry Potter, Sirius left out nothing. When he was done, Remus hazarded a question. "So she's alright?"
Sirius stared at Remus. "Physically, she's fine. Emotionally, she's exhausted. But what confuses the hell out of me is… what in hell's name were you two doing out on the night of a full moon?"
Remus looked at the ground. He felt weak with relief that Lily was alright, but guilty in the knowledge that it was because of him she had been bitten that night. Because he didn't stay behind and lock himself in the basement when he should have. "She—she needed to go for a walk, because the baby was kicking. I offered to accompany her."
"And did the fact that last night was the full moon just slip your mind? 'Cause I don't see how you could've missed it." Sirius stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and rounded on the werewolf. "It's your fault you were even out with her! And now, because of you, she's a goddamned werewolf!"
In spite of himself, Remus retaliated in kind. "You think I don't know that? That if I had the chance, I wouldn't go back and change things? Well, I do, dammit, and it's eating me alive! It's my fault that she's a werewolf, and maybe her kid, from what you told me. But there—there's nothing I can do," he continued, gray eyes steeled. "Except—" He let the word hang in the air as his eyes brightened with a new idea.
Finally, Sirius got impatient waiting Remus' reply. "Except what?"
Remus stared at his friend for a moment, then took off back toward the house, leaving Sirius scratching his head and wondering just what the werewolf had up his sleeve this time.
Short, yes, but it's a beginning. Stay tuned, next time Remus reveals his "plan". One other thing… for those potential questions and confusion regarding Sirius' switch from steady rock to whirling emotional person… James was on the verge of hysteria. Sirius knew this, and decided to defuse the problem before it became one. Then, when confronted with Remus, all the emotions he had shoved to the side in order to get James to calm down came bursting out, his plan to keep Remus around forgotten. Hope this clears any confusion! And as always, don't forget to review!