Moony

Lupin Household
Ewole, Flintshire, Wales
19 May, 1970

The waiting had to be Remus' least favorite part of the whole process; the fact that he had to go through a week of feeling sicker and sicker and more on edge before it burst when the full moon shone. He hated the waiting, and he hated the feeling.

He got two weeks feeling normal, no pre-moon illness, and no post-moon weakness, just normal and feeling the quiet world around him and the aloneness of the house.

Remus finished the small quiz his mother had given him quickly and decided to doodle on the margins instead of turn it in straight away. Drawing his father's owl, Barnaby, on the side and frowning at the doodle of it.

Barnaby was the newest addition to the household, gift from his aunt for Lyall's birthday that the celebrated on January third. Soon as the owl was let out of the cage he seemed to take a large dislike in Remus and almost attacked him. Now the dumb bird was kept in his cage, in his parent's room.

At least his mother doesn't like him either.

He drew the cat he distantly remembered having, he wasn't sure what happened to her though. His mother told him she ran away, he is not guessing she died somehow. Like everything, they eventually die. He remembered her being gray, but that is all.

He drew a circle and put clouds around it, making it the moon. He scribbled out the doodle instantly after it had been completed.

"You done, sweetie?"

Remus jumped, and looked up at his mother.

"Uh…yes…think I am."

Hope smiled and took the paper, not even glancing at it as she rested it away from them both and sat down next to him at the table.

"You feeling alright? Do you want to lay down?"

Remus shook his head, leaning back on his chair.

"I'm fine, just tried and a little sore. The normal."

Remus hated waiting, and that is what his parents were making him do. He was waiting for them to tell him about the registration date. They had kept this a secret since January, and he was still waiting for them both to tell him.

The end of the year was dragging closer, even in Remus' view of the slow passage of time in his boring routine.

But he would wait, until either they chose to tell him or he chose to bring it up.

He hated waiting though, and though he had a lot of patience when it came to a lot of things he was a ten year old boy, he didn't like waiting for someone to tell him something that he already knew.

He didn't like waiting for people to hold back information that concerned him.

Remus didn't like waiting. Not for the moon, nor his parents to tell him something important.

"Lyall, we have to tell him some time. We are already nearing summer time, this had been planned since January, if we keep holding this off it will already be the New Year and his birthday will already be upon us."

Hope sat on the picnic table they had in the back yard and looked at her husband pleadingly. She had seen how distant Remus had become this year, since Lyall had come home with the news. Though the boy was still smiling, working hard, and pushing through the moons something in her gut told her he already knew about his fate.

Her eyes scanned her husband, the man looked deep in thought, his brown eyes distant. The worry lines more prominent around his face as he brought his hands to his face. The two pointer fingers up and in a steeple shape as he leaned his frown on them.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to be, Hope…"

She sighed and rested her hand on his arm, a sad smile on her face. She knew how Lyall had everything planned before the bite, the day Remus showed the first signs of the magical gift he had inherited from his father the man had been already planning for the wizarding education.

Already convinced that his son would do something great for the world that he was born into, the dark times that seemed to be looming around the corner after the troubled times that he had grown up in and the wonder of peace that they found themselves in now. The untied world, and a prosperous wizarding community.

"He should be getting excited for school not hiding away before getting registered as a werewolf. He should be playing quidditch in the back yard with his friends not hiding away with his only companionship being the stuffed dog we got him, and us."

Hope got up from her seat and moved to the other side of the table, hugging him from behind.

"He should be happy, and healthy, and…and not worry about the damn lunar cycle."

"I know, but we can't change what happened. We can't change the past, the best we can do now is get him ready for the world he will be growing up in as a werewolf and a young boy."

Lyall went silent; his face buried in his hands as he tried to control his emotions; the people at work, with their looks and their glares, the way they viewed his boy without even really knowing him just because of what happened to him. He was letting it get into his head, contemplate what he was doing.

Did he save Remus from death for Remus, or did he do it for himself.

"We have to tell him, Lyall."

"I know…"

Near them, one of the windows that showed the back yard was covered by thick curtains only a sliver of light shone through. Past the glass, and the curtains Remus was curled up on his bed, socks on his feet, jumper on over his pajamas, and a book in his hands as he scanned the words.

His mind wasn't on the story though, it was on the faint muttering and talking he could hear out in the yard. Picking up bits and pieces of the exchange.

Remus hated waiting, and for what his parents were discussing, he decided he had waited too long.