There is an OC in this chapter. I just felt like she was necessary and also I wanted to give y'all a heads up so you're not confused. You'll know her when you see her.

The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter Nine

December 17, 2013

Steve did not like leaving Remus alone with Nat on the full moon. Sure, Remus hadn't had an incident since the Tricarrier. Unless they counted dinner directly after the incident, where Clint asked about it in what had to be the least gentile way and they couldn't get the lights to turn back on for half an hour.

Ten days later, Remus was breathing very hard when the rest of the Avengers had to get ready for a midnight mission, on the full moon, when Remus pleaded that he needed them the most. It was very difficult to leave the boy sitting dejectedly on the couch, sniffling quietly.

At least Nat was with him and Sam was nearby at his mom's house. Spider-man was also alerted to the situation, but since it was a school night, he was unlikely to be awake if Remus needed someone to talk him down from trying to eat himself. Then again, if Remus had been a normal child with normal problems, he'd be in a normal foster home and not with the Avengers.

The rest of them were very antsy. Since Tony had given over his research – Steve had to wrestle him for the flash drive – SHIELD had recovered three books and a spinning top labeled a Sneakoscope. The Sneakoscope was currently Fury's worst nightmare. All it did was spin endlessly and whistle like a kettle.

SHIELD just got intel that Red Skull had a library of twenty to thirty books hidden in a very secure compound; one that regular agents couldn't break through quickly. They were also about to move the books who knew where in the morning. So, Avengers Assemble.

Remus was very grouchy. He knew he was grouchy because it was the full moon and the wolf wanted out. But he didn't have to let it out if he didn't want to and he Didn't Want To. He may also be grouchy because he was a petulant child with separation anxiety and his human security blankets were going away for the worst night in December and it wasn't fair.

"Are you watching any shows?"

"Doctor Who," Remus said. "But the classic kind. I don't like the eleventh doctor, he's got a baby face an no eyebrows. Jon Pertwee is the best Doctor there is, he kicks butt, and I can't find classic Who."

"Someone's grumpy. I think it's past your bedtime, lapachka."

"I can't sleep!" Remus' voice cracked. "If I fall asleep, I can't keep the wolf from getting out! I could hurt you…"

"You're not going to hurt me, kid."

"You don't know that!"

"I'm wounded that you think so little of my skills."

"I'm a werewolf!" Remus insisted. "My dad was the leading expert on werewolves and one still managed to sneak up on us and bite me! Skill's got nothing to do with it. If I turned into a raging ninja on the full moon, I wouldn't be so worried about you, honest."

"You're a good kid, Remus," she gently ruffled his hair.

He wished everyone didn't do that so much. Yes, he was aware he was soft and yes, he knew that he was fluffy. It felt really good, like he was wanted and cared for. But he wasn't allowed to feel like that. He wasn't allowed a lot of things.

"I'm going to go to my room and stare at the ceiling until the sun comes out."

"Good night, Remus."

"Not tonight, it's not," Remus hugged his arms to his chest.

At one point, he wandered back into the common area and asked Ms. Widow for some coffee, but she scolded him and sent him back to his room. Coffee was a grownup drink and Remus was only twelve. Never mind that there was monster in his head trying to claw out as soon as he fell asleep.

Remus had been staring at the ceiling for three hours, at least. He turned his head to look at the clock. It was just past ten. He was usually asleep by now. He was really tired; he wanted to sleep. He could feel the wolf begging for him to let down his guard. No matter how tight he held Gwyllgi to his chest. He did his best not to cry, because even that would be exhausting.

If his transformations weren't connected to the moon anymore, even is the wolf thought they still were, didn't that mean that any time he fell asleep he might turn? That thought thoroughly frightened him. What if he was in a particularly boring history class and turned into a monster and started eating students?

He wanted to find Captain Rogers or the Hulk and talk. Captain Rogers always hugged him and he always had a strong shoulder for Remus to cry on. Captain Rogers exuded safety and protection. The Hulk understood him. He might even let him talk to Dr. Banner again, help him feel like less of a monster and more like a little boy.

Remus was about to get up and see if Ms. Widow might be able to provide some sort of comfort, when Gwyllgi started squirming and whining.

"Do you have to use the loo?" Remus asked, putting her down.

He slipped open the curtains of his bed. Gwyllgi jumped down and started barking at one of the corners of his room.

"Alright, just let me find my trainers," Remus grumbled.

Gwyllgi started growling.

The room was filled with a very bright glow, as pale blue and eerie as the moon on a winter night, far in the Scottish highlands. Remus didn't know how he knew that was Scottish moonlight, or what could possibly differentiate Scottish moonlight from anywhere else, as there as only one moon and all moonlight was the same… he was distracting himself.

There was something happening in his room. The lights across New York City flickered off, there was the dull thunk of metal landing on fabric, and then they flickered back on again.

"JARVIS, can you turn the lights on please?" Remus asked.

Sitting on a pile of Remus' dirty laundry – he cleaned less before the full moon because he was grumpy – was a little pewter hand mirror. It was laying mirror side down on his favorite green jumper. He did not own a little pewter hand mirror. Gwyllgi sniffed it experimentally.

"Remus!"

Remus nearly fainted. Gwyllgi yelped and hid under the bed. So much for brave guard dog. If Remus got attacked, she'd run the other way.

"Remus, are you there?"

"Did it work?"

"I don't know, it's really dark on the other end."

"I told you this was dumb, Potter, but you don't listen to anything but your overblown ego! Oh, I'm James Potter, I can do anything. Prat."

"Ow! Don't hit me!"

Remus was crying, racing for the mirror, "I'm here! I'm here, oh Merlin's bollocks! How is this possible?"

"Remus!"

Instead of his own reflection in the mirror, he saw his best friends sitting in a moonlit clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Sirius, Lily, and the twins, James and Meriam. He was so relieved to see them, he didn't have the brain power left over to worry about them being in the Forbidden Forest, which was Forbidden. They could get detention.

"Oh, Moony, everyone said you were dead!" James said. "Naturally, we didn't believe them. You're one of my best mates, I'd know if you died. I'd feel it."

"That's stupid," Lily snapped, smacking him over the head.

"I was right, wasn't I? Stop hitting me!"

"No, you're very hittable."

"Moony?" Remus choked.

"Oh, yeah, we thought you were a werewolf for a bit, and we needed a code word for you," Sirius said. "Sorry. Obviously you're not, since it's the full moon and you're not hairier than usual right now."

"No, but I was positive," Lily groaned. "It all lined up."

"Lily, did you really miss me so much, you were willing to work with James and Sirius to find me?" Remus croaked, not able to process that they knew he was a werewolf and still wanted to talk to him.

"Of course," Lily chirped. "They're prats! They're insufferable without you balancing them out."

"He's crying!" Sirius laughed. "Meriam, you owe me twenty galleons. I told you he'd cry if he saw us again."

"I never accepted that bet! I will give James his ten galleons. He didn't believe you were a werewolf."

"Nah, I am," Remus said. "Someone did something to me, on this end, and now I can change whenever, so that's been fun to handle."

"Oh no! Are you alright?" Meriam asked.

"Don't worry, I haven't fully changed since that one time I was shot, apparently. I don't remember it."

"With a gun!?" Lily gasped. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, werewolves have a healing factor," Remus said. "It's been a lot to handle."

"When are you coming back?" James asked.

"I… I'm not…" Remus said. "I mean… I think I could, but Mr. Stark doesn't want me too. I mean, my parents are dead, so there's not much to return too. Aside from you guys, obviously!" He added quickly. "But… there's been a lot of complications. I think I broke the Statute of Secrecy."

"Oh, that's fun! Commit werewolf crimes!" Sirius shouted. He didn't have an inside voice. He'd like Thor.

"It's not fun, Sirius! If I'm caught the Ministry will kill me! It's not a game!"

"Right, yeah, sorry. Probably shouldn't come back. Being a werewolf's pretty dangerous."

"Where's Peter?"

"He's covering for us," James said.

"Meriam stunned him, he was gonna tell on us," Lily said.

"He wouldn't have gone through with it, he's our friend," James insisted.

"Mate, you're too trusting," Sirius sighed. "It'll get you killed one day."

"I'd rather be dead than not trust my friends!"

"His last words before Meriam stunned him were 'I'm going to go to McGonagall right now!' and you still trust him to have our backs?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Not particularly. He didn't believe Remus was still alive, either."

"Well, now we've got proof."

There was a knock on the door. Remus almost screamed, and shoved the mirror into his pile of dirty clothes. He almost apologized, but remember that Ms. Widow was at the door and he had an illegal magical item in his room.

"Remus, buddy, you alright in there?" Ms. Widow asked.

"Uh, yeah, everything's fine! I'm fine!" Why did his voice have to crack so often these days?

"Who are you talking to?"

"No one! I'm… reading out loud to keep myself awake?"

"Remus, lapachka, are you trying to lie to SHIELD's most elite spy?" That was not an exaggeration, either.

"Um… no?"

Remus could hear his friends covering their faces and trying not to laugh. He was very glad no one could see how red his face was.

"Remus, you know you're safe here, don't you? I know you and I don't get along like you do with Steve, Hulk, and the others, but I'm here for you."

"I know," Remus said. "It's just… difficult. Everything feels like it happening so fast and… everything's so different here."

"You've got us. You've got me."

"I know," Remus sighed. "I'll call you if I need you, okay? I promise."

"That's all I ask. Goodnight, lapa."

"Night."

Remus waited until he could hear her clinking around in the kitchen, making herself a cup of coffee. Oh, she could drink coffee late at night, but not Remus. That was the least of his worries right now.

Remus pulled the mirror back out, "Sorry, sorry, that was the Black Widow, she's babysitting me right now."

"The black widow?" Lily asked. "That seems…"

"It's her code name, like the spider. I… don't remember her real name so I've just been calling her Ms. Widow and no one's corrected me and at this point it's been months and I think it's too late to ask…"

Sirius started laughing. Lily smacked him.

"How did you manage to do this? How'd you find me?"

"We used some of your hair!" Meriam said.

"You kept my hair!?"

"No! Merlin, you're so weird, Amy," James grimaced. "You know how the house elves won't clean our dorm room anymore, since Sirius started leaving stink bombs to prank them last year?"

"Yes?" That was why it stank to all hell. A smell he never thought he'd miss as much as he did. Stink bombs and dirty laundry.

"Well," Sirius continued, "we got some hair from off your pillow case. You shed like crazy, did you know that?"

"I… was aware of that, yes," Remus said.

"Well, Sirius found this ancient blood ritual in a book in the restricted section," James took over again. "We'd been trying to locate you through all these other means, you know. Meriam's read loads of books, because she's such a swot."

"I will now likely never get lost again," Meriam said with confidence.

"She says that but she got lost on her way to potions class last month," James snickered.

"I didn't think I'd need a location spell to get to a class room I've been going to for a year and a half," Meriam pouted.

"Anyway," Sirius said. "We've been nicking the ritual ingredients from all over the school since October. Evans being in the Slug Club really helped, I see why you tolerate her."

"Black!" Lily smacked him.

"She's so violent!" Sirius laughed.

"But how does the ritual work?"

"It sends an item to the target," Sirius said. "James and Meriam had the mirrors, so we figured we'd send one of those. It only required a little blood sacrifice, and considering that my family spells are worse, I consider that a win!"

"You had to do a blood sacrifice!? Are you insane? That could kill you! You didn't even know if I was alive! What if I was dead? That would have killed you!"

Sirius shrugged like that wasn't as big of a deal as it was.

"It only works on the Witching Hour on a full moon," Meriam added. "Which was why I was against it. We didn't think you'd be… well… human until the morning, long after the Witch Hour is over. And we don't know if the connection between the mirrors will hold when the ritual ends."

"But it's not the Witching Hour, it's ten o'clock."

"It's Witching Hour over here," James said. "Where are you?"

"New York City, in another dimension. This place is crazy. Just last week I met a guy who got bit by a radioactive spider and now he can stick to walls and lift an entire car with his bare hands, over his head and everything, like it's hardly weighs anything."

And suddenly, like that, Remus was telling them all about everything that had happened to him in the last two months. He skipped over what HYDRA did to him. He told them all about the Avengers and how they'd taken him in, even though they knew he was a werewolf.

It felt so good, so right to talk to them again. It didn't even settle in until his voice was hoarse from talking that they knew he was a werewolf and they still risked everything to try and find him. He spent his entire childhood being told that no one but his parents would ever love him anymore, yet he'd need a third hand now to list everyone who loved him unconditionally. He started crying again.

After James and Sirius got several good jabs in about him being a cry baby, his friends started regaling him with stories of their misdeeds since he'd been missing. Most of it was the stunts they had to pull to acquire the ingredients required to cast the ritual to find him. Then, they got to current events that didn't involve a daring heist by Lily in the dead of night, breaking into Slughorn's secret stash of mooncalf hooves.

The blood supremacists were using the Lupin's murder as proof that muggles were all soulless and evil. They'd been killed by HYDRA agents and their policy was two in the head, one in the heart. But the wizarding world had no way of knowing that it was a coverup for a kidnapping by an interdimensional Nazi Spy organization that was obsessed with the occult. Not very muggle, if you asked Remus.

There was also a case of super-pox sweeping the country. One that infected muggles as well as wizards, making it a logistical nightmare to contain. It was also ten times as deadly to the at risk groups. James and Meriam's elderly parents caught it. They had one year left, at best. Remus didn't know what to say to that. They tried to brush it off, saying it was a miracle that Meriam, with her heart condition, didn't catch it.

Lily's mom had early onset dementia, as well. 'I'm sorry' felt wholly inadequate, as her dad had died three years ago of asbestos poisoning. Now she was stuck with her prissy stuck up sister who hated her and her brute of a brother-in-law, who also hated her.

The only one among them that wasn't basically orphaned was Sirius, and his family was as cruel and they were crazy.

This brought them here, all of them lying on their backs. The mirror on their end was sitting on the ground, face up, so Remus could watch the clouds with them. It had been so long since he'd seen such a clean sky, living in the city that never sleeps. He missed the stars and watching the Scottish sunrise. He was curled up on his bed, holding a sleeping Gwyllgi to his chest.

"If you're not coming back, we're coming to you," James said.

"Don't be ridiculous, James," Remus sighed. "It's nice to see you guys, one last time, but don't just… throw you lives as wizards away because of me."

"Lives as wizards," Lily snorted. "It's hell over here, Remus. For all of us, blood traitors and mudbloods. Learning magic is fun, it's best thing that's ever happened to me, but… I've had mud dumped on my head every week this entire term.

Meriam, Potter, and Black have been hexed so often, they've got their own private room in the hospital wing. The only reason we're getting a break now is because all the pureblood prats are home for the holiday while we're here, missing our friend."

"I miss you guys so much," Remus sniffled. "I've cried a lot."

"Knew it," Sirius managed, but he had long since used up all his good humor and was as somber as the rest of them now. "You're our fluffy little werewolf, Moony."

"Thanks, Sirius."

"We have a way," Meriam said. "I doubt it's the way you got there…"

"Do not try and find the way I got here," Remus interrupted. "If it's a spell, it's probably horrible, and if it's a portal, it's guarded by Nazis. Like… actual Nazis, Meriam. It's insane over here."

"The Nazis won?" James snarled in surprise.

"No! Okay, technically they're called HYDRA, but they started as Hitler's research division into the occult during WWII. Obviously, they don't work with Germany anymore."

"That's bizarre," Lily whistled.

"Right?" Remus said. At least no matter what, Lily always got him. If it weren't for Snape, the two of them would be best friends, like James and Sirius. "Anyway, didn't mean to interrupt you, Meriam, just wanted to warn you about the Nazis."

"Thanks, Moony. As I was saying, we found a way to travel through dimensions. With all of my location spells, I should be able to chart a path through the multiverse to get to you."

"That's bizarre," Remus said. "But… if you really want too, I doubt I can stop you. I couldn't even stop these two from pulling mischief while I was physically right next to them, there's nothing I can do from worlds away."

"We have to become Animagi, since only Animagi can perform the spells required."

"No, nope, not happening," Remus sat up, grabbing the mirror. "Someone face the mirror so you can see how serious I am about that not happening."

"But, Moony, I'm…"

"Shut up!" Everyone who wasn't Sirius said.

"People die trying to cast the Animagus spell," Remus pleaded. "You could get horribly disfigured. It's super advanced transfiguration and potion brewing and just advanced in general. We're twelve!"

"I'm thirteen," Sirius said, proudly. "Besides, it'll take us at least a year, probably. By the time we're done, we'll be thirteen and fourteen, and that's hardly as young as twelve and thirteen."

"Oh, yes, by one year," Remus snapped.

"Look, with the exception of Peter, we're all incredibly skilled already," James said. "And we've… sort of already started the process, so there's nothing you can say that will stop us."

"James!" Remus groaned. "Don't drag Peter into this, too."

"Relax, he didn't want to," James grumbled. "And we found a way to avoid the potion making, since each of us would have to brew our own potion. Most of us are fine with that, but…"

"As we all know," Sirius continued. "Meriam is incapable of brewing a potion that doesn't explode."

"Not true!"

"Or smell of rotten eggs," James added.

"Alright, fine, mostly true."

"Please, please be careful."

But the clock turned four on Remus' end and the Witching Hours in both world's was over. Remus was looking at the reflection of a very tired werewolf. The spell was broken. Remus was alone again. Truly alone; he couldn't feel the wolf anymore.

Woo! Marauders time! Meriam is James' twin sister. I just felt that with four boys as the Marauders, that generation was a bit lacking in terms of diversity so I was just like, screw it, James get's a sister and I'm replacing Peter with Lily because I can't handle six children, a dog, and seven avengers and if anyone deserves the ax it's Peter 'I'd sell you to Satan for a single corn chip' Pettigrew. Plus, it makes it easier than having to deal with two main characters named Peter P., since Spider-Man does make several appearances. I've got enough problems with Nova being Sam Alexander and Falcon being Sam Wilson.

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