A/N: I did this as an assignment for a beginners writing class. We were suppose to be someone and write about their inner thoughts. It is not great and I find it very cheesy. I am definitely not a poet but I had fun writing it and it is about Lupin, my favorite character so I guess that makes it ok. Please tell me what you think!

Shreds of Sanity: A soliloquy from the point of view of Remus Lupin during his first couple years at Hogwarts.

By Aki-chan

I hear the crickets chirp and the owls hoot. But the noise does not come from outside my window. It is all around me. I sit amongst them like friends; amongst the animals, the trees, the stars...

I know these woods better then any other creature that dwells here. Countless times I have used the same dirt path to return to my bed from the woods. Sometimes I am unable to make it to the tree that guards the entrance to my monthly prison.

Covered in dirt and blood from the injuries that I inflicted upon myself, I slide into the clean linen sheets, my whole body aches and throbs. I have little recollection of the previous night, except for the pain I feel surge through my body when I wake.

This is the way it has been and always will be. What I am, what makes me different from everyone else...sometimes I think of it as a gift. I call it a blessing...and then I laugh. I laugh so hard that it brings tears to my eyes.

Ii end up disgusting myself. My painful secret, all caused by one reckless mistake when I was too young to know any better. I'm only human. But really, I'm more then that. I'm unique, an individual, a hero even. I laugh once more. Saying those things leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, a bitter taste of my own flesh.

Am I really a hero? Some one to look up to? Or am I just a marauder. Marauder...I've heard that word so many times. Friend of mine uses it a lot. Refer to themselves as marauders, call me one too.

I hate that word, though I don't tell them that. I don't think they truly knows what it means, or at least to me. Marauder- to pillage; someone who attacks in search of spoils. I don't say that word out loud. I try my best not to think about it. But my friend's constant use of it has burned the word into my head.

Sometimes my mind plays tricks. I twist that word into a new one...martyr. Martyr- someone who suffers for a reason, principle or belief. Yes, I like that much better. I don't attack, I suffer. I pay dearly with the knowledge that my hands can kill and I am powerless against the moon to stop it.

I am a slave, a servant to the night. My master is the moon. And until the day comes where I can change this, where I become the master, I must embrace the night...for I am the night.