Disclaimer: All the familiar characters belong to JK Rowling, the rest is mine!
Rating: mostly PG13, but there's going to be an NC17 chapter, I'll warn for that one though.
Paring: James/Lily, Sirius/Half the girls in Hogwarts, Remus/?
Summary: This is basically the story of Remus Lupin's life from the day he was bitten until he falls asleep in the Hogwarts Express, right before Harry & Co walk in.
Further things to say: I'm Dutch. Always have been. Dutch is my first language, and I can speak English fluently, but it's not my native tongue. Please excuse me of all the possible spelling mistakes I've made, they were not intentionally.
Remus Lupin.
A story by Linda Lupos.
1966.
"That's where all of this starts – with my becoming a werewolf."
It was a warm summer evening, somewhere in England. It was not totally dark; the late sun shone her orange rays upon some toys in the garden. It were quite unusual toys: a plush dragon, a broom, and more of these things. A woman walked outside.
"Remus!" she called. "Come inside. It's time to go to bed!"
"Mom, I can't find my Puffskein. I think he walked into the forest. I need to find him!" replied a five-years old boy. He looked worried.
"Don't be scared, daddy and I will find him" said the woman.
"I'm going to look for him" said little Remus and ran into the forest.
"Remus, wait!" The woman took a few steps forward. "Don't go into the forest! Remus!" The boy was already gone. A man joined the woman in the garden.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Remus is in the forest, and it's dark."
The man took his wand and without a word he ran into the forest.
~*~
Remus couldn't see his house anymore, but he didn't really care. He was looking for his Puffskein, a funny furry animal. He got it when his little brother was born, two years ago, and it was Remus´ task to feed it. "Puffskein" he whispered, looking in the shadows under the trees. "Puffskein, where are you?" He started to make a humming sound, the sound his Puffskein always made when it was happy. That usually worked when his pet was missing. Remus´ mother always used to say he had a way with animals. Remus reached a more open spot. The sun had now disappeared and the bright full moon shone her light upon him. He started searching under the bushes, still making the humming sound. He saw a movement in the shadow under a large oak. "There you are, Puffskein" whispered Remus.
~*~
Eliza Lupin, Remus´ mother, heard a funny humming sound behind her. She turned around and saw the Puffskein. Then she heard Remus scream…
John Lupin, Remus´ father, was searching for his son. He knew how dangerous the forest was, he knew several people had seen a werewolf running around. He hoped, he prayed he wasn't too late, that he was still able to find his son before… A high-pitched scream made his heart stop. Remus. He yelled "Lumos!" and ran to the place where the scream came from. Remus was lying on the ground, and a huge animal was crouched at his feet. A stream of blood flood out of the boy's right leg, and he was screaming. John pointed his wand at the werewolf, and yelled a charm. A blue stream of light erupted from the wand and hit the werewolf's head. The animal let go of Remus and approached John. He kept firing the lighting at the werewolf, and finally the animal decided this prey was too hard to get. It turned around and disappeared. John leapt over to little Remus. He had stopped screaming, and stared at his leg with huge eyes. He looked up at his father. "Dad, I… " He fainted.
His father magiced some bandages and lifted his son up. Quickly, he started walking back to his house.
~*~
The next day.
Remus was lying in his bed, in St Mungo´s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, listening to his mother who was reading a story to him, and scratching his leg. It was itching, but he could not really scratch it because of the bandage that was wrapped around his leg. His parents were both here because the doctor said he wanted to meet them. Remus wanted to know what was going on and he wanted to go home.
The door of the ward opened. An old man with almost white hair walked in. He used a stick and was holding a bunch of papers. He walked over to Remus´ bed.
"Mr and Mrs Lupin?" he asked. He had a slight Irish accent. "I'm doctor O´Connor. And you must be Remus." He nodded to the little boy and sat down.
"So, that must have been a painful experience, wasn't it? Stop scratching" he told Remus. "It doesn't help. Do you know what kind of animal it was, I mean the animal that bit you?"
Remus glanced at his parents. "No. I was just looking for my Puffskein. And then it bit me!"
"I see. Remus, the animal that bit you was a werewolf. You have heard about them, haven't you?"
"Yes… A little. I know they're mean and like to eat little children."
"Yes, you're right. I guess your parents told you that?"
Remus nodded happily. He wasn't stupid! He knew werewolves were mean and that they used to eat children who are bad and walk into the forest when it's dark! He scratched the bandage again.
"Can you stretch out your hands?" the doctor suddenly asked. Remus did it. Doctor O´Connor took his hands and looked at them. At the palms of the little boy's hands, short brown hairs were visible, the same colour as the hair on his head. The same on the other side; short light brown hairs. And his middle and index finger had the same size. "Did your fingers hurt, yesterday?" asked the doctor sternly.
"A little, only for a short while. It felt like somebody was pulling this fingers really hard." Remus moved his index finger. "But now they're okay." He frowned. The doctor suddenly seemed worried. Did he say anything wrong? He looked at his parents for support, something to comfort him. But they looked just as worried.
The doctor took his hands again. "Remus, what I'm going to say now isn't a joke, so I want you to listen carefully. Like I told you, you were bitten by a werewolf. People who are bitten by such an animal, and survive it, become werewolves themselves. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Remus gave him a slightly puzzled look.
"Remus, you are a werewolf." Remus still looked puzzled.
Suddenly, it came through. A werewolf. Those feared animals, known for killing anyone and everything. All his live, his parents had been warning him for werewolves. And now he was one himself. He got scared.
"Mom, I'm not a werewolf, am I? I'm not a werewolf!" His eyes looked begging at his mother. His eyes, which were now more yellow than two days ago, when they were brown…
His mother trembled and couldn't say a word. She pressed a handkerchief to her mouth. Doctor O´Connor laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Remus" he said. Remus shook the hand off. "I'm not a werewolf! I AM NOT A WEREWOLF!" he yelled.
He was only five years old and too young to understand. But a month later, he understood all to well what it meant to be a werewolf…
~*~
28 days later.
Remus was playing outside in the garden. He was limping a little, but that would be cured soon, and as soon as it was cured he would only be troubled by it when he was really tired, said the doctor. The famous Puffskein, the one who had caused all this, was gone; Remus didn't want it anymore. The sound of a hammer could be heard from inside the house; Remus´ father was making something in a spare room. He had no idea what it was, and he didn't care either. His father was always doing strange things. One day he even walked into the fire! Remus wanted to follow him, but his mother pulled him back. Silly grown-ups. He scratched his arm, and felt something warm coming down. He looked what it was and saw blood coming from his arm. He had scratched his skin off again. It had happened before, yesterday. His mom would be angry again. He sighed and walked over to the house. His mother was also in the spare room, helping his dad. He pulled her arm.
"Mom, I'm bleeding again" he said. She kneeled down to examine the arm.
"Oh Remus," she said. "You know you have to stop scratching!"
"But I can't help it! It itches! My whole body itches!"
His mother shook her head, suddenly looking very sad. "Come on" she said. "I´ll give you something to make the bleeding stop."
After dinner, his parents took him upstairs to the room where his parents had been making something. They had been doing something with the room, but it wasn't much of an improvement: there were bars before the window, the wallpaper was gone and there was a boring carpet on the floor. Remus looked up at his mom and dad.
"What have you been doing? Why did you make this?" His father kneeled down and said "Remus, would you get over here?" Remus walked over to him.
"You know what we've told you, you are a werewolf." Remus sighed. Not that stupid werewolf-tale again. He had never eaten anyone so far! His father continued.
"Tonight, you'll change into a werewolf. We don't want you to be running around in the forest and hurting people. That's why we made this room, with the bars. You have to stay here tonight, and tomorrow you can come out again. Next month, you'll have to stay here again for one night, and then the next month and the next month. It's only for one night a month, you see?" His father smiled comfortingly and a little uncertain at him. Remus did a few steps forward to examine the room. It was really boring; bars for the window, no wallpaper, just the rough walls, a dull grey carpet and a few blankets in one corner. They were probably some kind of bed. He turned around.
"Do I really have to stay here?"
His parents nodded. His father said: "But you can come out tomorrow, like I said." He sounded like he thought he was giving Remus the birthday-present of his life. Remus didn't thought so, he thought it was stupid and idiot and all that kind of things.
"Okay" he said. "Can I go and play now?"
There were tears in his mother's eyes. Remus really had it with this stuff. Everybody was crying. He scratched his head. If only that irritating itching would stop…
His mother took him in her arms. "Remus, you can't go outside now. You have to stay here." He looked at her arm. He didn't see an arm, he saw a delicious piece of meat. He wanted to eat it. He opened his mouth a little. Unfortunately, his father took him and placed him in the room. He looked at his parents. They looked back at him, and it seemed as if they were staring at each other from a mile distance. His father swallowed. He couldn't do it… He had to do it.
"I'm sorry, Remus" he said. "It's the only way." Remus couldn't believe his eyes. He saw his father close the door. He heard the key turning around in the lock. He heard a click; his ears were amazingly good. It was probably one of those stupid grown-up jokes. In a few minutes, they would open the door again, he thought. He sat down on the floor, waiting, scratching his body. His hands were covered with hair. Strange.
He tried to scratch his legs, but his arm suddenly started to tremble, and he couldn't control it. His fingers felt like they were torn apart. His nails grew unnaturally fast.
He got scared. There was something happening with his head too. It was hurting, it felt like growing a new tooth, but this was happening in his whole head. He tried to get up, to walk to the door, to ask his parents to let him out, to make it stop, what was happening. He couldn't walk. His legs were trembling too. His right leg, the one with the scars, was covered in brown fur. It seemed more like a dog's leg. He started screaming, but he didn't recognise his own voice. The only thing he could hear was a crying wolf. Then, he knew no more…