A harsh, guttural growl awakened the small boy. He blinked sleepily, his eyes struggling to adjust to the heavy darkness. Staring into the black, he found his eyes locked on the hulking figure crouched over him. As the creature leaned forward to administer his lethal bite, the child screamed.
"Ha, muggle television is so awful compared to ours," sighed Mrs Lynch, sniffing contemptuously as she changed the channel. Her daughter Cedrina stared blankly ahead. She had barely paid attention to the film, distracted as she was by her parents heaving sighs and obvious distain. Cedrina herself had not found the film awful, but the creature in it painfully reminded her of someone she yearned to forget- her fiancé, Fenrir Greyback.
She had little doubt that Fenrir loved her. He always had, despite her plain appearance and aloof attitude. Yet she simply could not love him back. She, alongside many other wizarding children, had been raised shunning and fearing werewolves. Cedrina knew that despite his condition Fenrir was a caring man, gentle, a man who loved her dearly. But her old prejudices remained, and she could not look past his lycanthropy. She had repeatedly shunned his advances, his proposals, his declarations of love, until her family intervened and accepted on her behalf. They were eager for the prestige of joining the Greyback clan, and the notorious reputation they upheld. Cedrina wasn't. And now the marriage was set for a months time... just before a full moon. Cedrina shuddered delicately at the thought.
Almost as if he had read her mind, there was an insistent tapping on the front door, which Cedrina recognised immediately as Fenrir. She stayed in her seat, sinking low into the soft upholstery.
He entered the room swiftly, barging past her mother as soon as she'd opened the door. Sinking low to his knees before Cedrina, he grasped her wrists, his sharp fingernails cleaving marks into her skin. She yelped in pain and attempted to shrink away from him, but his hands held her tight and she couldn't break his grasp. Staring into his pockmarked, scar riddled face, she could see nothing but anger. And then, in a voice closer to a growl than any she had heard, he whispered, "I know about you and John Lupin"
Cedrina began to tremble. A lock of her mousy hair fell into her eyes, shielding her from Fenrir's penetrating glare, and hiding her ashen face from view. She attempted to answer him, but her words caught in her throat. Eventually she managed to choke out, "I... I don't know who you mean."
Fenrir sneered, his face contorted by an ugly grimace. "Acting dumb as dumb as you look, princess? Well, sweetheart, let me remind you. Don't you remember him?! That muggle from down the road. The farmer. Poor as dirt!" he yelled, spitting on the floor in rage.
"I... I still don't know who you mean. I've never seen him before..." Cedrina stuttered.
"Don't fucking lie," Fenrir roared, as he paced the room, "I always see you staring at him! Handsome, isn't he? You wouldn't mind marrying him, would you? You'd prefer it, in fact, wouldn't you? The plain pureblood winning the heart of a manly muggle! Well guess what, sweetheart? It isn't fucking happening! You might've slept with that muggle, but you're still mine, no matter how slutty you are! And that little halfbreed you're expecting... well, let's just say I'll sort that out when the opportunity arises."
With that, Fenrir placed a single, gentle kiss upon her forehead, but it felt wrong. Possessive. She struggled to suppress a shudder. As he left the house, a gust of wind extinguished the only candle in the room, plunging the young woman into darkness. She sat there for what felt like an age, staring into nothingness, her hands grasped protectively over her stomach. She simply couldn't fathom how he knew. She had told no one, not even John. The baby was her secret, a comfort that she clung to. The comfort had gone. She just felt sick to her stomach.
Her mind felt clouded with worry, but one thing occurred to her. She had to tell John. But whether or not he accepted it, she had to flee. She simply could not stay. Fenrir had made it clear what he intended to do to her baby, and she knew with every fibre of her being that she would not allow it.
Pulling a traveling cloak tightly around her shoulders, Cedrina cast one last terrified glance round the dark room. Satisfied that she was alone, she heaved a great sigh, and with a loud crack vanished.