Disclaimer: I don't own it, JKR owns everything.

Chapter 2: Remus

Remus John Lupin. I write the name over and over on scraps of old parchment.

Five years old and still learning to write my name. Pathetic, isn't it? Five years old and the hand holding the quill still trembles as it slowly forms the letters.

This is how I see myself.

My mother sees something different. My mother sees what I try to hide; she sees the reasons why I don't look in the mirror every morning like a normal five-year-old.

She doesn't see what normal parents see in their children. She doesn't see her eyes. She doesn't see father's hair. She doesn't see my smile, because it's never there.

She can't be normal because of me. Because I'm not normal.

Because I'm a werewolf.

She sees the scars on my face that will never fully heal. She sees the paleness of my skin. She sees the lines and creases on my forehead. She sees the cheekbones that jut out because I haven't eaten properly for months. She sees the ever-present dark shadows under my eyes. She sees how ill I look.

She sees the panic in my eyes, with little over a day to go before the full moon returns.

Nobody else sees it but her.

Nobody else sees me at all.