House: Slytherin
Category:Short
Prompt: Remus Lupin
Word Count: 1088
Remus Lupin was a werewolf. That's all there is to it. No one really cares if they have feelings, especially if they're a danger to society. Werewolves were seen as creatures of the night. Savage. Ravenous. Violent. Hideous.
Remus, however, was nothing like that. On the contrary, he was caring, thoughtful, and smart. Yet people only paid attention to the fact that he was a werewolf. Well, the people who are aware of the fact, anyway. That only really included his family, who weren't very supportive to begin with, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and some picky pureblood wizards who were friends with his parents.
One night, Remus was getting prepared for nightfall to come. It was going to be a full moon. His closest friends, James and Sirius, were already aware of this, so they tried their best to calm down his nerves.
"What if I lose control?" Remus asked, panicking.
Sirius looked straight at his eyes, his determination shining through. "You won't. You've done this before. Just remember who you are and what your purpose is. Trust me. Hold on to a memory of us for only a couple of hours."
"What if I hurt someone? What if I lose myself and I don't remember who any of you are? I… I could kill you," Remus said quietly.
James stood with his hands on his hips. He was showing his battle stance. "Stop with the what ifs. Don't think about it. You can't keep asking what can happen. The future unravels itself in its own ways. We can't do anything about it. We all know what can happen, we just don't acknowledge it," James said in a scolding manner.
Remus nodded, defeated. Although, his doubts were still nagging and pulling at his hair in the back of his mind. He went to his dorm and sat at the edge of his bed. Putting his head in his hands, he sighed, frustrated. His best friends didn't know what they were talking about. They had no idea. They never experienced temptations to eat their own friends. They don't know what it's like to be ignored by the people they loved. They don't know how hard it was not to turn on a loved one when the wolf was in control. They didn't know what consequences come with the label 'werewolf'. It wasn't anything a mere schoolboy should have to endure.
He didn't ask for this, any of it. He didn't ask to be a werewolf. When he was a wolf, he couldn't even control his actions, and when he was a human, nobody relied on him, his family shunned him away, pretending he didn't even exist ,and his friends offered well-meaning but worthless advice.
As everyone started to file into the room to go to sleep, Remus started to do the same. He acted naturally. Just like everyone else. No one asked questions. This was how hard he worked to seem just like them. No one suspected a thing.
Once everyone was settled down and Remus could his dormmates' gentle snores, he slipped out of his bed silently. He moved around the room like a cat, silent and murderous. The moon had already claimed its spot as it was perched at the top of the silky, never-ending violet sky. Remus's temptations had begun to creep up in his mind. Not daring to look at someone, for fear that he would not be able to stop himself from attempting something, Remus tip-toed out.
He had been transforming as he was sprinting towards the Forbidden Forest, putting as much distance between himself and the school as possible. When he finally arrived at a decent spot, he stopped, clutching his stomach and gasping, taking in gallons of oxygen. He was in his full form. He felt disgusted at the sight of himself. Remus needed to distract himself, so he began to run, full blown force, so as to run away from himself. The wind was whipping at his sharp face, when he caught a scent.
Running in the direction of it, he dove straight for a deer. Knocking it over, he sank his teeth into it until it went limp. He was satisfied with his catch, but as he raised his head to look at the size of the deer, his eyes widened in horror. Laying before him was Sirius. His corpse was in an uncomfortable position, with his limbs bent an unnatural way. The blood in his neck, where he made the killing move, pooling out. Remus started to back away at the sight in front of him. What have I done? He thought. You killed him! No! He went to bed! He couldn't have followed me! Remus whined and ran from the horrendous corpse.
He ran and ran and ran, the image of the body burned into his memory. He was shocked at what he had done. He was terrified at himself, of what he was capable of. Arriving near the edge of the forest, he heard his name being called out. His name was the only thing he could remember in his wolf form, however, the voices seemed familiar. He turned to the sound, finding James and Sirius staring at him.
"Remus, come here. It's okay. It's Sirius," Sirius said softly. Remus creeped cautiously towards him. He realized that he had been turned to normal, to his human form. Looking up at the sky, expecting to see the moon still out, he saw a pale orange blanket swept across the sky instead. It was morning, nearing the time they're supposed to wake up.
"Get away from me! I'm a monster! I killed you..." Remus started to say, choking back a sob. "Stop! Please don't get closer! Stop! Stop…." Remus said, shaking.
James and Sirius rushed forward to comfort Remus, telling him over and over that what he saw wasn't real. "I'm right here Remus. You didn't do anything to me. I'm alive and well. We came to check up on you. You seemed really tense before you left, so we wanted to know if you're okay. Look, we're both here."
Remus looked up at both of them. "I thought I killed you, Sirius…" he said.
Sirius looked at him sympathetically. "Well, lucky for me, you didn't. We'll always be here mate," Sirius reassured, taking Remus up by his shoulders, with the help of James.
"Always," James promised.
With arms around each other's shoulders, they stumbled sleepily back to the dorms, happy that they still had each other.