Waking up in one's own bed was usually a comforting thing. The only time that it wasn't comforting was when you couldn't remember when or how you got there. Of course, for one Mister Remus Lupin this wasn't an uncommon occurrence. Even so, familiarity did not always make for comfort. In fact, this familiar feeling only caused him to worry more. His mind wandered to the night before and he tried to remember everything that had happened, as though remembering would somehow make it better.

Remus could remember getting dressed in a very long shirt. The summer air made it a little more pleasant to wear fewer clothes than normal. Then, he had gone to the barn with his father just as the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains. The roosters had all gone to nest, the cats were curled up in the hay, and the sheep were silent. Remus had followed his father into the barn, a place that had held work horses once upon a time. Now all that was in the barn was a large cage. It was sturdy with iron bars and a padlocked door. There was not getting out of that cage, regardless of what you were.

Mister Lupin had given his son a hug, said that he loved him, locked the cage door and settled down in his chair, a gun across his lap.

Shutting his eyes tight, Remus tried desperately to remember what had happened after that. All that he could recall was being in terrible amounts of pain. Then everything went black. There was nothing to remember. Maybe it was better that way. Maybe he didn't really want to remember.

It was unclear, even to Remus, when he started going through his monthly transformations. Had he been five or six when they had started? All he could recall was a tall man with a white beard showing up at the door. Or perhaps he really hadn't been that tall, perhaps Remus had just been small and thought that all adults were tall. Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, Remus just called him The Tall Man.

The Tall Man had sat down in the living room on the ugly red paisley sofa. He had told the Lupins about werewolves, creatures that Remus had grown up his whole life being told weren't real. And that day he was informed that he was one of the monsters that lived under the bed and in the closet. He was the creature that lurked in children's dreams.

Remus vaguely remembered his mother crying and his father trying to talk to The Tall Man. All he could really remember was feeling very sick and confused. The Tall Man had promised to return at some point, Remus remembered him saying that much. However, he hadn't seen the man since that day. Remus had just turned eleven and he hadn't heard anything from the tall man since that day.

Groaning, Remus tried to will his limbs to move so that he could examine his injuries. His muscles ached and his joints popped as he sat up. The transformation was incredibly painful and the pain didn't just go away. It wasn't something that left when the wolf did. No, the pain was constant. To be able to stretch out one's body, to have the muscles and the tendons and the bones all change was difficult.

Finally, he forced himself to sit up. Someone, presumably his mother, had dressed him in his flannel pajamas before putting him into the bed. She had also wrapped up his left wrist. Remus rotated his wrist and hissed. His flesh burned beneath the bandage and there was a bit of blood soaking through the white cotton. After a quick check, Remus discovered that he had a bandage on his leg as well, a larger bandage on his right leg and his right leg was absolutely killing him. There was a bruise covering most of his right arm and several small cuts were on his face. All in all, it probably wasn't the worst injuries from a transformation that he had ever had. He still remembered last summer when he broke three ribs and his arm.

It wasn't his own injuries that bothered him, he just hoped that he hadn't accidentally killed any of the animals. Once he had killed a hen and another time it had been a cat. Of course, his parents hadn't told him about any of this; but when Crowy and Moodles both went missing the day after the full moon he had able to draw his own conclusions.

After a few minutes, Remus forced himself out of bed. He held onto his bed frame and tested his weight out on his bad leg. It didn't hurt so much. He could walk without being in extraordinary amounts of pain. Well, no more pain than usual.

He limped into the kitchen and blinked several times. Black-out curtains had been put up in his room as that he could sleep after the full moon. However, the kitchen was bright as the midday sun shined through the windows. The whole room was bright and it hurt him.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

Artemis Lupin, Remus's mother, kissed Remus's forehead and smiled. Like him, his mother had sandy brown hair and light brown eyes. She was a small woman, built thin. Over the years, she had seemed to grown thinner. Maybe it had something to do with watching her son turn into a monster every full moon, but she seemed to have aged quickly.

Then there was his father, John Lupin. He had short dark brown hair and blue eyes that were hidden behind black rimmed glasses. John was a tall man and fairly well built. Thus far, Remus hadn't seemed to have inherited anything physical from his father. They did, however, both share a love for learning. They spent several hours together reading over books in John's study. It was a silent bonding experience where they sat on opposite sides of the room.

"Morning, mum," Remus muttered and rubbed his eyes.

"There's water in the kettle if you wanted some tea," his father said from behind his morning newspaper.

At least something was normal. Standing on the tips of his toes, Remus grabbed a mug from the cupboard and made his morning tea. He added far too much honey to his tea. Honey was the only sweet that Remus was permitted to have, so he made the most of it. After a moment, he became aware that his parents were watching him.

Remus focused on his tea and tried not to think about what he might have done the previous night. "So, how are you all this morning," he asked and walked over the to kitchen table to sit next to his father.

John took a deep breath and folded his paper up. "We need to talk, son."

"Is Dorian alright," Remus asked instantly, his face paling.

"Your kitten is fine," Artemis promised him and sat down. "It's just that you're eleven years old now and we were thinking…" She paused and put her arm around Remus. "You know that school is important, right?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been to school since he was five. His parents had pulled him out after that and his father had taught him at home.

"I thought I was doing very well with my lessons," Remus said and took a sip of his tea. "Did I forget an assignment or something?"

John adjusted his glasses and shook his head. "That's not it, Remus. See, there are actually several things you need to know about. About your mother and about yourself. There are things that we never told you."

Artemis gripped her son's hand tightly. "It'll be alright, Remus. I promise. There's someone who can explain it better than I can. Um, Professor?"

Professor? There was a professor now?

A familiar man walked in from the living room. His purple robes fluttered lightly around his ankles. The first thing that Remus noticed was that the man was incredibly tall and then he noticed the long, white beard. The Tall Man smiled and looked over his half moon spectacles at Remus.

Remus quickly became aware of the fact that he was still in his pajamas. He also became aware that he was covered in scars and bandages. Was there a polite way to excuse himself from the room? Would running be considered acceptable in this situation? Probably not.

"Mister Remus Lupin," The Tall Man sat as he extended his hand. "I'm not so sure if you remember me or not."

Yes, Remus remembered him all too well. "Tall Man," Remus mumbled and shied away from the man. The last time he had seen this man it had been the day he discovered he was a werewolf.

The man smiled and pulled his hand away. "Tall man, you say?"

Artemis wrapped her arms around Remus. "He's very shy, I apologize."

"Oh, no need for that, Artemis. After all, I didn't come bearing very good news the last time that I was here, now did I? However, on this occasion, I hope that Remus will think the news to be quite good indeed."

What good news ever came from a man who announced that you were a monster? "May I be excused," Remus asked quietly.

"Remus, be good, honey."

"I'd like to get dressed," Remus whispered. He avoided looking directly at the man.

Artemis paused for a moment. "Of course, honey. Just come back out in a few minutes. I'm very sorry about this, Albus."

"Again, Artemis, there's no need to apologize to me. If anything I should be the one apologizing to Remus here for not announcing my visit sooner."

Remus slid out of his mother's arms and onto the floor. He should have told the man that there was no reason to be sorry at all, but he couldn't seem to speak. Instead he just turned and hurried down the hallway to his bedroom to change clothes. It would have been nice to have been informed that there would be a visitor.

Once he got to his bedroom Remus collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. What was wrong with him now? Was he a vampire too? Did vampires exist? If werewolves existed then surely vampires could exist too. If he was a vampire then wouldn't he be craving blood or something? Wasn't that how it went in all the story books?

Remus only vaguely remembered the conversation about being a werewolf. He remembered his father asking if there was a cure or a way to fix it. The man had looked down and shook his head. An idea came to Remus. What if they had found a cure?

There was a soft meowing and Remus opened his eyes. A small grey kitten stared up at him, mewling and demanding to be picked up.

"Hey, Dorian," Remus said as he obliged the kitten's demands. "Dorian, I think something very good might be happening."

Yes, Remus thought, that's why the man is here! He's figured out a way to reverse this!

There would be no more pain. He wouldn't be covered in bruises or scars any longer and there would be no more broken bones! He wouldn't have to worry about whether or not he had killed another family pet. Someone somewhere had figured out how to fix him and make him a normal boy again! That had to be it! The Tall Man had looked very happy to see him. A person didn't look happy if they were coming to tell you that you were a vampire.

Quickly, Remus dressed himself. Now he was excited about this. He wouldn't have to be a freak anymore. He would be a normal boy. Remus grabbed Dorian up off the bed and hurried back to the kitchen.

Albus now sat at the table, enjoying a cup of tea. "Ah, you came back."

Remus smiled and nodded. "Yes sir." He took his spot by his mother and sat Dorian down in his lap. "I'm ready now." The sooner he got his cure the better.

"Excellent." Albus moved his cup of tea aside and took a breath. "Have you ever done something you couldn't explain?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I do a lot of things I can't explain. I don't usually remember them considering I'm usually a monster at the time. But, you're here to change that, right?"

"In a sense," Albus said.

"So, you've found a cure?"

The room fell silent. Remus looked around and realized that he had been wrong. There was no cure, there had never been a cure. His ears buzzed and he clutched Dorian tightly. All of his hopes were crushed right there. Just as he had begun to find faith again it had been stolen from him.

"This won't make that particular problem better," Albus went on, "but it will make that particular problem different…Jelly bean?"

"What?"

"Would you like a jelly bean?" Albus reached into his robes and withdrew a small red bag.

Remus shook his head. He didn't have sweets, not ever.

"I see." Albus slid the bag back into his robes.

"Can someone just tell me what's going on?"

Finally, John looked up. "You're a wizard, Remus."

Remus was tired of finding out things that were impossible. Wasn't being a werewolf enough? Wasn't believing that enough? Couldn't he be normal in at least some possible way? "Am I a vampire too?"

Albus tilted his head. "Pardon?"

"Well, I'm everything else! I'm a werewolf, a wizard, why not just add vampire too it? What do you do with wizards? Bury them in a hole once a week so that they don't magic people into pigs or something?"

"No, Remus, we send them to school," Albus said calmly.

"School? How do you send people like this to school?"

"Remus, sweetie, it's time to calm down. Why don't we let Albus explain the school to you?"

Remus looked down and petted Dorian. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper. I just want to be normal and all anyone seems to keep telling me is that I'm odd."

"You think it's odd to be a wizard," Albus asked. He smiled slightly.

"Well, it's certainly not normal."

Albus turned his gaze to Artemis. "Artemis, would you like to explain this to your son?"

Artemis paused and hesitated for a moment. Then, he nodded and held Remus close. "Remus, sweetheart, do you remember how things were when you were younger?"

"Do you mean the part where I wasn't a monster?"

Artemis sighed. "Before that. Things were different. You see, Remus, I've been a witch my entire life. I went to Hogwarts School when I was a girl. Even after you were born and I married your father, well, I was very involved with the magical community. I only stopped after your…accident. I had a feeling that you would take after me and I didn't want you to see all of these wonderful things that you might not be able to learn about. I didn't want to get your hopes up. But, because of Albus Dumbledore here, you will get to experience these things. You'll get to learn to be a wizard."

"Hogwarts," Albus went on, "is probably one of the safest places for a boy. As your mother mentioned, it's a school for young people to learn magic. It's a place that I hope you will enjoy. The Ministry of Magic has brought it to my attention that it will be difficult to have a student among us who suffers from a monthly condition such as yours. Therefore, I've found a way for you to attend our school and cause no harm to yourself or anyone else."

"You're going to put someone who turns into a monster once a month to a school? Where there are children?"

"We've made special arrangements based around your condition," Albus informed him.

"I've done the math. One tenth of my life is spent either being a werewolf or trying to recover from being a werewolf. And you're putting me around other children? They'll know."

"They won't."

"I'll leave every month during the full moon. You'd have to be an idiot not to notice."

Again, Albus smiled. "Remus…you have a very sick mother."

"Mum's sick too?" That certainly wasn't something to smile about! That was a very horrible thing to say.

"No, sweetie, that's just what we're going to tell people. That you have to come home to see your sick mother. Don't worry, no one will figure it out."

I would, Remus thought to himself. "How are you going to keep me away from the others?"

"We have a shack." Albus paused. "Oh dear, that didn't come out right at all. We have a special place for you. It's surrounded with all sorts of charms to keep what's in in and what's out out. It will be a very safe place for your transformation."

Maybe it was like the TARDIS. On the outside the TARDIS was just a police booth, but on the inside is was completely different. "So, like, on the outside it's like a shack but on the inside it's something else?"

"Oh, no, it's a shack all the way through. There's a tunnel that goes to it. We've put a very violent tree over the tunnel so that no one will ever be able to follow you."

Remus blinked. "I hit my head really hard last night, right? I'm in the hospital recovering and this is all a dream."

Albus shook his head. "It's no dream, Remus. This is real."

"But it's…so dumb."

Artemis turned. "Remus, please, be polite."

"Mum, I know that I'm being rude, but this man says he's going to put me in a school full of children and their only protection from me is a shack and a tree."

"A violent tree," Albus added, looking amused.

"Trees can't be violent. It's like if I said I had an extremely contemplative lamp…which I don't."

Albus remained perfectly calm. "In the Wizarding World, Remus, things work differently. We have spells and charms put up so that nothing can get to you and you won't be able to hurt anyone. We have taken all the precautions we can think of in order to keep you and all of the other students safe. I promise you, this is the best we can do for you."

Remus paused. What was he doing? It was as though the Doctor had shown up on his doorstep and offered to let Remus be his companion. It was like Remus was making fun of the Doctor's scarf instead of going to explore the universe. "Is lycanthropy…is it a wizard thing?" he finally asked.

Albus nodded. "Somewhat."

"And if someone were to find a cure…that person would more than likely be a wizard?"

"Or a witch."

Remus bit the inside of his cheek. This could be his chance to help discover a cure. This could be his chance to fix himself. "Can I bring Dorian?"

"Who is Dorian?"

Remus reached down and picked the kitten up out of his lap.

Albus smiled again. "Oh yes, every student is allowed to bring a cat, a toad, or an owl."

"Wow…what a truly random list of animals that was." Not that the animals were the most unusual thing here. Remus sighed and looked up at his mother before looking back to Albus. "Everyone will be safe?"

Albus nodded.

Maybe this could work. Maybe if Remus worked really hard then he could figure out some way to fix himself. No one would be in danger of getting bitten. This could be a good thing. "Alright," Remus said. "Alright, I'll go."

Artemis immediately leaned over and wrapped her arms around Remus, making Dorian mew loudly. "Oh, sweetie! I knew you'd go. You're going to love it there."

Remus wasn't entirely sure that he would love it there, but it would certainly be a new experience for him. He would be learning things.

"And there will be a lot of people your own age," Albus added.

That part was a bit more worrying, but Remus didn't mention anything about it. He had never been around children his own age. Or, at least, he hadn't in a very long time. Maybe it would be easy. He was used to his mother and father, how different could other children be? After all, he was a child and he knew the things he liked. Surely the others would like the same things.

"And I have one thing for you before I go." Albus reached down and dug through a small bag on the floor. He pulled out a very thick book and slid it across the table to Remus.

Remus pulled the book toward him. "Hogwarts a History," he read aloud. "Hogwarts…that's the school, right?"

Albus nodded. "You mother has your acceptance letter. School starts the First of September. I expect to see you there, Mister Lupin."

Nodding, Remus flipped through the pages of the book. It was thick and it would take him the rest of the summer to get through it. However, he was excited to learn about the school. "Thank you, sir," Remus said and looked up. "Thank you for everything."

"No trouble at all. Thank you, Mister Lupin." Albus got up. "I'll be seeing you soon, Remus. Artemis, John, thank you both."

Artemis smiled. "Thank you, Professor. I hope that everything goes well."

"I'm certain that it will."

After bidding Albus goodbye Remus managed to slink off to his room, claiming to be exhausted and overwhelmed. Granted, he was. It wasn't ever dinnertime and he was already worn out. The full moon took a lot out of him and then the conversation with Professor Dumbledore had been tiring.

Remus curled up under his covers with Dorian. He propped his book open and started. It would be hours later that Artemis would come to call Remus for dinner. She would find him asleep, halfway done reading the book.