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Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count: 478
Assignment 6: Healer Studies: Task #3: Lycanthropy: Write a story set on the full moon (for a majority of the story).
Friends Like Those
Remus watched the moon through the window of the Shrieking Shack. He hated the moon; the way it dictated his life like he was a stray wave in the sea. He hated that it had such power over who—over what—he was.
He hated how alone it could make him feel.
As the clouds shifted and the moon came into full view, Remus felt the change overtake him. It hurt—it was agony in truth, but a familiar one—and then he didn't really know anymore.
He was still in there, but trapped in a cage of sorts, imprisoned in his own mind. The beast was in charge now, and there was little he could do to stop it.
He heard a noise, a few noises actually, and the wolf spun, already salivating at the thought of prey. He'd never had prey before, always locked away in a room, a building, so that he couldn't hurt anyone.
The door opened, and a… deer stepped through, it's nose twitching, it's antlers lowered slightly in warning. Following the deer, a dog, black and barking and cheerfully almost dancing as it entered the room.
And between the dogs legs, a rat, shivering. Remus—his wolf—could practically smell the fear on the rat.
Unfortunately, none of them smelled particularly appetising. Remus didn't want them. The dog scampered forward, nipping playfully at the wolfs heels, bounding out of the way when Remus span angrily after him, jaw snapping.
The dog seemed like he was laughing.
There was something so familiar about those eyes.
…
Remus woke with a groan, his limbs aching more than usual. He groaned and stretched, flashes of the night before playing in his mind.
A dog, a deer and a rat… how odd.
And then he heard a snort and he sat upright, wincing at the pain that lanced through him at the quick movement, to see his friends watching him, wide smiles on their faces.
It took him a minute—he was recovering, okay, he wasn't firing on all cylinders—but then he realised.
"Animagi?"
They all nodded proudly, grinning at him.
"You… you did that for me?"
"We hate you being alone for the full moon every month," James said softly. "We're your best friends, we want to be there for you."
"Besides, it's not like it's hard, right?" Sirius quipped, his grin shifting to his usual lazy smile.
"I… thank you," Remus whispered. "Though you do know how reckless that was, right?"
"And he's back," Peter said, chuckling. "Come on then. I'm starving."
They walked in front of Remus through the tunnel, and at the end of it, grabbed James' invisibility cloak that they'd obviously stashed there the night before.
"See you at breakfast, Remmy," Sirius said, as they vanished beneath it.
Remus just shook his head and laughed. How the hell did he get lucky enough to have friends like those?