AUTHOR NOTE: Hey everyone, I first posted this story first in 2012 as a teenager and since I have rediscovered my love for fanfiction, I thought it would be a great idea to rewrite this first chapter and reengage with the story. Please comment what you think, I would love to hear!
Remus Lupin woke to the sounds of birds chirping, and warm light filtering through his red Gryffindor curtains, giving the room a cosy sleepy feel. It was 9 am and a Saturday, he considered the three other sleeping figures in his room, that of his best friends, James, Sirius, and Peter, chuckling softly as he knew they wouldn't be up until noon, at the very least. He crossed the room to the window and tugged at the thick velvet fabric to peek at the weather outside so that he might dress accordingly. The slight amount of light let in by the action caused a beam of light to shine into Sirius' sleeping face, whereby he flinched and with his honed quidditch reflexes tossed a pillow hard at Remus' face. He couldn't help it he snorted in derision, earning another surly grimace from his mostly sleeping friend.
He strode over to his wardrobe considering, that the weather outside looked to be a warm autumn day suffused in rich tones of oranges and browns. He picked out a pair of black trousers, paired it with a black belt accented in gold, and for the casual day ahead he also selected a loose-fitting black shirt to tuck into his trousers. He looked rather decent he thought and teased his slightly curled brown hair in a style imitating James' own, yet far neater. The day looked warm, but he knew better considering the changing season so selected a pair of dark brown dragonhide boots.
He walked cheerily out of the Gryffindor chambers and made his way whistling cheerily down the corridor with his newest book under his arm recently ordered from Flourish and Blotts, planning fully to spend all day leaning against his favourite willow tree by the great lake fully immersed until he would undoubtedly be rudely interrupted by one of his friends likely for a ridiculous half-baked plan in causing mayhem. He would never admit it to his fellow Marauders but it was a werewolf romance novel which he had charmed the cover to an innocuous charms textbook, stories like this gave him hope that he too would find someone he would be able to share his condition with. If he was honest with himself, it was a huge point of contention and shame in his life, especially since the vile creature Fenrir Greyback inflicted this upon him at only 5 years old, and since then he'd held a secret suspicion that he wasn't worthy in many capacities.
Before stepping into the fresh outside, he quickly backtracked thinking a quick coffee would be needed. Outside of the window in the Great Hall, he saw his least favourite tree, the whomping willow and felt his mood darken thinking about the ever-approaching next time he would need to turn, a few days he thought idly, although he would need to check for certain.
Remus felt his mouth quirking at the reminder that he never did these transformations alone anymore, and one if not all of his 4 best friends would go through the bone-shattering painful experience with him in their Animagus form.
Once sufficiently awake after knocking back a quick espresso, he began to proceed on his route to the lake, book in hand, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a strange flicker down a passageway which led towards the dungeons. He stopped, angling his body towards the strange ethereal interruption, the flickering appeared as though a mirage suffused with strange shades of greens and blues flickering, the blank space around these flashes was unnaturally black, to such an extent he couldn't make out anything beyond the point of disturbance.
A figure in long white robes suddenly came into view as though wrestling against the dark, it was Dumbledore.
"Headmaster!" Remus started, hurrying forward to help the wizard and stretching out his free arm to grab the back of his robes, but it wasn't enough. Remus tossed the book into the void and with both hands heaved him out of its grip, and in doing so rather belatedly realised he was now closer to it than Dumbledore had been.
"Remus" Dumbledore said uncharacteristically unsettled with warning flashing in his eyes that clearly said stay back, as he flexed his wand and leaned back with all his might against the tug of darkness. But Remus was now that bit closer to it, whatever it was, and felt an irrepressible call to walk forwards, a dark malevolence which made his legs move of their own accord forwards. He had been wrong when he first saw Dumbledore, it wasn't enveloping him, he had been walking into it gripped by the same mania as he now was. He heard Dumbledore cry out behind him as he was utterly enveloped in the crushing dark, and then nothing.
. . .
He was cold and shivering, instantly berating himself for choosing a short-sleeved t-shirt for the day. He groggily opened a single eye to see that he was lying on the cold stone floor in the dungeon passageway, it was the wrong decision, his head instantly twinged in pure agony, so he swiftly shut it.
Lying still and trying utterly to recall exactly what had just happened, he flicked through his memories and with panic and despite the pain he sat sharply up, eyes widening. What the hell had just happened? Where was Dumbledore?
He saw his book on the floor and picked it up despite the seeming futility of the action in the context of a possible emergency. He whirled around suddenly disoriented as to which direction to go in, perhaps he had a concussion.
After a few dizzy moments, he figured out what he thought was the correct path to Dumbledore's office and hurried swiftly along at a light jog, occasionally bumping into the walls on corners in his panicked state.
Rounding another corner, he bumped fully and hard into a boy with a messy mop of black hair, James his brain supplied, and a small girl with wild curly locks, honey freckled skin, and large brown eyes looking up at him in befuddlement at his dishevelled state. He thought errantly that James was incorrigible, surely it was a bit early to hatch yet another plan in getting a jealous rise out of Lily in his quest to make her his girlfriend.
"James" he gasped out utterly relieved at the sight of his friend "You wouldn't bloody believe what just happened to me" and clutched his head as he felt another stab of agony and squeezed his eyes shut.
Remus carried on "Mate, you need to take me to Dumbledore's office at once as I'm feeling rather dizzy, it's urgent."
Silence met his dire request, and he reluctantly flicked his eyes open and toward James, only to realise, what a minute? That's not James.
He felt his cheeks burn an unsightly shade of bright red and choked out a swift apology, before trying to move past the shocked-looking strangers.
They wouldn't budge so he cleared his throat awkwardly "Erm, don't mind me", with absolutely no reaction. So, he decided to target the small girl to sidestep which proved much less of an obstruction and as he tried to sidle past, she whispered "Remus?"
His eyes snapped to hers, he was fairly certain he had never laid eyes upon her, and the reptilian part of his brain reminded him that he certainly would have remembered. There must have been something in his glance at that moment that spoke of the errant thought because a blush spread across her delicate nose and fine-boned cheeks.
He could see the gears of her brain working as she considered him and finally in response to his questioning look, she carried on with authority "I know what you're talking about, Dumbledore just rushed past asking us to take you to the infirmary and that you would be coming through here" at his continued panicked expression she explained soothingly "He is fine and I'll be letting him know as soon as your settled."
Her voice was in a tone of such finality and confidence that he finally nodded his assent, trusting her, little did he know contrary to what the witch had explained with authority, she actually had no clue on what was actually happening and was bluffing her way through an absurd situation.
He shut his eyes again another wave of agony, as he felt her hand being placed delicately on the small of his back as she led him towards where he assumed the infirmary would be, with the dark-haired boy trailing behind clearly perplexed by the whole situation.
The curly-haired witch abruptly stopped and turned to her friend whispering hurried instructions, which seemed to contain at least one mention of Dumbledore. Without another word, the other boy strode down the hallway in the opposite direction.
Her hand resumed its place on his back as she urged him forward, she cleared her throat and spoke quietly, which he appreciated since his head continued to throb "Dumbledore didn't mention it to us, but what exactly happened?"
He explained at length the odd encounter with the enticing darkness and waking up on the cold dungeon floor, she looked briefly up at where he was holding his head and her eyes widened, as he did in return "What's wrong?" he said hurriedly.
She shot him an easy smile "Nothing Remus, but you do have a rather nasty gash on the back of your head. Of course, nothing that Madam Pomfrey can't fix" despite her apparent nonchalance there was a worried twinge to her expression that she couldn't quite mask, her free hand quickly reached out for his and gave it a squeeze. His stomach did an odd sort of flip at the familiarity with which she was treating him, and he shot her an uncertain glance before his mind sifted through something she had said.
"Madam Pomfrey? What happened to Madam Rosa, I didn't hear that she had left her role in the infirmary?"
The witch's eyes darted into the corner of the room as she quickly said "Oh yes, Madam Rosa, she was taken ill this morning and is expected back sometime in the next few weeks, Madam Pomfrey will be covering her for now. Or that's what Dumbledore said" she shrugged as if playing off that she didn't know much more on the subject.
He couldn't quite place the strangeness of this encounter, but there was something quite off that was making his brain tick fervently, which was not the best idea considering he was certain he had a head injury. And how did they know his name but he not theirs, he was in his 6th year at Hogwarts, they looked to be of a similar age and the school very rarely had a new arrival at their age, let alone two.
He was lost in his thoughts and the small witch seemed quite happy to let him be after the mention of Madam Pomfrey, just as he was about to ask another question they arrived at the infirmary where the so-called Madam Pomfrey swept into action and ushered him on to one of the hospital beds. She had a no-fuss kind of attitude, much the opposite of Madam Rosa who would coo and idolise the frequently injured marauders.
He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes as she performed spells to assess his condition, clucking her tongue as she said "Not the best news I'm sure but you have a concussion, and a nasty gash. You're going to need a long rest, a wound-cleaning potion, a skin regrowth potion, plenty of fluids, and most importantly of all a brain respite whilst the concussion lessens."
Madam Pomfrey turned to the curly-haired witch and ushered her out "Miss Granger, you can visit tomorrow when your friend is on the mend"
Remus' eyes travelled up to the witch's "Thank you…"
"Hermione" she supplied whilst smiling softly, and still holding that concerned look in her eyes. The moments after he'd watched her leave the room rather wistfully he had realised belatedly that he should have asked her to let his friends know where he was.