Remus paused before pushing open the heavy doors into the Great Hall.
Once a month, without fail, he would enter the Hall and be greeted by shocked gasps and cries from his friends and classmates. The gashes and scrapes on his face and arms inevitably brought forth a gush of questions and concerns from all directions. He sighed, braced himself, and quietly entered the Hall.
"Oh my god!"
"Remus, what happened?"
"Man, are you alright?"
"How does this keep happening, Remus?"
"Remus, why?"
"How?"
"Remus?"
"What is it, Remus?"
"Remus?"
"Remus?"
"I'm fine, don't worry about it…. Look, here's the mail. Eat some breakfast, everybody…."
Somehow, he always managed to bat away the interrogation until the Gryffindors surrounding him gave up.
A flood of owls filled the air with downy feathers and the beatings of wings. The arrival of the post always provided a reliable distraction from his self-inflicted clawmarks, evidence of his full-moon jaunts. For a few moments, everyone looked to the sky to see if their worried mothers had written them, and nobody spared a glance for Remus. He was thankful for those few moments.
In a world of Muggles, wizards and witches were freaks. And in this world of freaks, Remus was an outsider.
Today, as the owls receded and fluttered back to the Owlery, Remus was drawn out of his thoughts by a gentle tap, the sound of a letter hitting a plate. He glanced at the letter and immediately felt his face getting warm; the envelope was blood-red, and was trembling slightly.
"Woah, everybody! Lupin's got a Howler!" somebody announced, and Remus's mouth fell open slightly, searching for words. With shaking hands he picked up the letter. What on Earth could this be about?
The paper flared suddenly, and Remus dropped it with a yelp. The envelope slit itself open, and –
"REMUS, HOW COULD YOU? DUMBLEDORE TRUSTED YOU WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING YOURSELF, AND NOW WHAT'S THIS I HEAR ABOUT THAT BOY NEARLY GETTING KILLED? DO YOU WANT TO BE EXPELLED? AFTER WE WORKED SO HARD TO GET YOU INTO THAT SCHOOL, HOW DARE YOU NEARLY THROW IT ALL AWAY? IF ANYTHING ELSE HAPPENS AT ALL, I AM MARCHING RIGHT UP TO THAT SCHOOL AND TAKING YOU HOME MYSELF! YOU PROMISED THAT IT WOULD BE SAFE, AND THAT YOU WOULD TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, AND THEN YOU GO AND DO THIS! I AM ASHAMED OF YOU, YOUNG MAN! YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL NEXT TIME, OR YOU'RE COMING HOME!"
Remus jumped up from the table and ran from the hall, glancing around only long enough to see Severus Snape glaring at him from the Slytherin table, hatred and disgust etched into every line on his face.
Remus went immediately to the dormitory, threw himself onto his bed, and yanked the curtains closed around him. He pressed his face into his hands, ignoring the fact that he was making the wounds on his face throb with pain.
It wasn't even my fault. He hadn't been the one to lure Snape to the Whomping Willow. He didn't have anything to do with it. It was Sirius, all Sirius. But everyone was blaming Remus, and all Sirius did was gape as Remus's mother shrieked from the Howler.
It took several minutes for his breathing to slow, and when it did, he heard the quiet footsteps crossing toward his bed. He wouldn't talk to whoever it was.
"Remus?" It was a gentle, musical voice, one he had heard many times poring over books in the library, soothing him when he was troubled…. The curtains were drawn back, and there stood Lily, looking sympathetic and concerned.
Okay, maybe there was one person he would talk to.
"Hi, Lily." She sat down on the bed in front of him and closed the curtains once again. She pulled a flask of brownish liquid from inside her robes, and began dabbing it on his wounds with a cotton ball.
"Tell me what's going on."
Remus looked into her earnest, beautiful green eyes and saw that she truly did care about what was wrong, and that she wanted to help him, and that he had to tell her the truth.
"Lily, I'm a werewolf." Lily paused only for a moment, and her face did not change. She simply nodded slightly and continued dabbing his cuts. "And – well – last night Sirius pulled a prank on – somebody – and lured him to me, while I was in form. And I guess if he hadn't gotten out in time I – might've – killed him." Lily stopped in her work and looked at him, her face unreadable. Suddenly –
"Come here." She pulled him close to her and hugged him fiercely. "I don't want anyone to ever make you think that you're less because of that, you hear me? You have a condition that isn't your fault, and
you are much more of a man that Sirius will ever be, having gone through what you have…. Oh, Remus…." Remus, unsure of what to do, patted her gently on the back.
"Um…. Thank you." Lily laughed weakly at this.
"Are you really a werewolf? You're so gentle and pure, it hardly fits…. Well, I guess you must be a puppy, then!"
"Yeah, I think so." Lily pulled away from him and they looked at one another seriously for a moment. Breaking the silence, Remus squeaked and barked feebly, like a puppy. Lily snorted, and they fell into each other, laughing and yipping like puppies. They finally landed on their backs next to each other, sighing and shaking weakly from the laughter. Lily rolled onto her side and bushed an errant wave from in front of his eye.
"You're so beautiful, Remus."
"And so are you."