Chapter 1: The Call

It started out as a feeling

Seven Years Later…

Remus had never been quite the same after he had been bitten. He knew his parents still loved him, yet he always felt so alone. After that night he never again asked his mother to tell him stories of Narnia. This was because he felt that he was no longer worthy of Aslan's love, because he was a werewolf—a monster—though he would never dare tell his parents this. Remus read a lot and all the books agreed that a werewolf was a beast, something less than human. His father told him he was smart and kind; his mother told him he was strong and brave. But Remus knew better. Why else would his eyes, once the same icy blue as his mother's, have turned to the amber-gold of a wolf?

Which then grew into a hope

When he was eleven, Remus received his Hogwarts letter. He had made himself physically sick with worry that he wouldn't be allowed to go at all. When the letter finally arrived, his father clapped him on the back and gave him a huge grin and his mother hugged him so tight he could barely breathe, thanking Aslan profusely as she peppered his face with kisses. Remus began to believe that maybe he could be a normal boy for once. Maybe he could be human. Maybe he wasn't a monster after all.

Which then turned into a quiet thought

Remus' letter arrived in mid-March, which gave his worries and fears plenty of time to fester. As spring turned to summer, Remus, a quiet child at the best of times, grew positively silent as thoughts and worries of attending Hogwarts in the fall filled his mind. He would finally get to make friends. What if they found out? What if he attacked someone? What if no one liked him? There was so much to learn, he couldn't wait to start. What if it was all a joke? What if they had sent him a letter by mistake?

Which then turned into a quiet word

"I can't go to Hogwarts."

The small Lupin family was sitting at the dinner table eating chicken pot pie served with green beans and homemade bread. Julius Lupin raised his eyebrow and set down his fork. "Why ever not, son?" he asked, humoring the boy.

"It's too dangerous—I'm too dangerous."

"You're not dangerous, Remy," said Susan Lupin. "The wolf is."

"I am the wolf," said Remus, his amber-gold eyes wide with sincerity.

"No," said Susan sharply. "You may turn into a wolf once a month, but that does not define who you are."

"All the books say—"

"Damn the bloody books!" said Julius, slamming his open hand on the wooden table.

"Jay! Language."

"Dammit, Suzie, I've had enough of this! I'm bloody tired of our son putting himself down and convincing himself that he's dangerous. Godric knows he didn't get that from us. It's those Godric damned books!"

"Jay," said Susan, her voice deadly calm. She gently, regally, set her fork down beside her plate and straightened her posture and fixed her husband with her icy stare. "Do not swear in front of our son. And you," she turned her icy blue gaze to Remus, "you are an amazing, smart, loyal, and brave boy. You are my son and I will not have you belittling yourself. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now, you will be going to Hogwarts next month. It has been your dream for years and I will not see that dream dashed to pieces because of your own irrational fears. Do you understand me, Remus?"

"Yes Mother."

"Excellent. Now let's end this ridiculous conversation and finish our meal in peace."

And then that word grew louder and louder

'Til it was a battle cry

Against Susan's wishes, the dinner argument had not been the end of it. For the next three weeks, the Lupins argued and yelled at one another about Remus' stubborn insistence not to attend Hogwarts. Susan had regressed to the shorter temper of her youth; Jay was constantly swearing up a storm and getting his ears chewed off for it; and Remus barely spoke, except to state that he would not be attending Hogwarts in September. The small family began to avoid each other like the plague: Jay started to work longer and longer days while Susan retreated to the kitchen, baking up a storm and preparing enough meals to last an entire year, and Remus began to explore their small house in a way he hadn't since before the bite. No nook or cranny was left unexplored; he started in the cellar, which was mostly just used for his transformations, and slowly made his way up. The week before September 1st, he finally made it up to the attic.

I'll come back when you call me

The attic was a small room lit by a single, round window set in the front of the house. The room was packed full with boxes, crates, trunks, and an odd collection of tarp-covered furniture. These were the painful memories of Susan's past and the sparse remnants of the Lupin inheritance, squandered away on an ill-spent youth and far too many healers' bills.

The light of the afternoon sun lit the attic sufficiently as Remus began absently rummaging through a stack of old cardboard boxes. He quickly stopped once he realized that these were the sad remains of his own once-happy childhood. Leaving the boxes behind, he made his way further back, occasionally picking up a loose knickknack or misplaced picture.

Situated just shy of the back wall was a worn, wooden trunk that was painted a royal blue and trimmed in gold. Remus moved closer and ran his fingers over the peeling gold calligraphy. Susan Elizabeth Pevensie. This was his mother's. His mother, gentle soul that she was, rarely spoke of her childhood beyond the stories of the make believe games she had played as a young girl. It was only because of those stories that Remus knew that she had had three siblings. He had once asked his father about them; Jay's face had been grave as he told his son that the Pevensies had died young and tragically years before he had ever met Susan. Remus never brought them up again.

Remus hesitated. This was his mother's private, painful past. Did he really want to intrude upon it? Yes, yes he did. The trunk opened with a slight creak. Remus peered inside, eager to uncover this mystery. The inside of the trunk was neatly organized, a small stack of clothes and some old schoolbooks lying visible on top. Remus moved them aside to reveal an old stuffed goose and a porcelain doll. He cleaned out a few more knickknacks and souvenirs, setting them gently on the wooden floor of the attic. There: at the very bottom of the trunk was the thing Remus had been looking for. He reverently pulled out the pink flowered hatbox and sat down.

Inside the box was a wealth of information: a stack of letters tied with a red ribbon, a blue journal, a small collection of old newspaper clippings, and photographs, dozens of black-and-white photographs. As Remus sifted through them (he daren't touch the letters or the journal for fear of intruding upon his mother's private thoughts), he noticed that a dark haired girl who was undoubtedly his mother featured in most of them. Along with his mother, there were three others who featured prominently in the pictures: an older fair haired boy and a younger boy and girl, both dark haired. Remus realized with a start that these must be his uncles and his aunt, his mother's unnamed siblings. He flipped the photograph he was holding to look at the back. Peter, Susan, Edmund, & Lucy leave London, was the caption. He flipped it back over and stared at the strangely familiar children standing at a train station, dressed in 1940s school uniforms. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Those names sounded familiar. Remus racked his brain for the answer. It hit him like a train. Narnia. Those were the names of the kings and queens of his mother's old bedtime stories.

"No," he whispered. "It can't be. They're just stories…" As if in a trance, Remus stood up and walked toward the back wall of the attic. Set against the wall was a large something covered in a large canvas tarp. He reached out a shaking hand and gave the tarp a gentle tug. It fluttered to the ground, revealing a large, intricately carved wardrobe. "It's real," he said reverently. "I wonder…" Remus' hand paused over the handle. He flinched back momentarily, but recovered as he heard his mother's voice in his head: You're braver than you believe, Remus, and stronger than you think. "I'm brave," he whispered. "I'm strong. I can do this." He yanked open the door. "Like pulling off a plaster," he muttered and stepped cautiously inside. The door swung shut behind him.

No need to say good-bye

So...I need to stop coming up with crossover ideas. I have way to many in my brain and every time I try to focus on one, a different/new one pops up and I get distracted. That said, I am currently working on a brand-new idea of mine that crosses Once Upon a Time with Narnia. I'm pretty excited about it and so far I've got a pretty good grip on where I'm going with the story. I'm still working on writing it and piecing it together, so it may be a while before that one's up. In the mean time, I'm going through the bits and pieces of other crossovers I have written to see what is ready to be posted and what isn't. I'm also doing my very best to keep at the stories I've already posted, but I just have too many ideas to be able to post anything on any kind of schedule. I'm doing my best; we'll see what happens. I don't abandon my stories (I've already scrapped the ideas that were going nowhere), but some may get updates faster than others. I do have a life (shocker). And that concludes today's schpeil. Thank you and good night. ;)

Please read & review, but flames are not appreciated. Thank You!