Title: Nightshade
Author: Rhiannon Deschain
Summary: How Remus Lupin received the bite as a child, and when his parents knew it was just to the point where they had to stop trying. Bleh. Bad summary.
Lead: Remus and his parents, O/C were.
Rating: PG-13 (possible R, but it should be fine for you mature people ;) lol)
Author Note: Please don't ask where this lil' plot bunny came from. o.O. Even I don't know and I'm writing this. o.O This chapter has a lot more description and lengthy little explanations, but it should do. Oh well, hope it turns out decent.
Chapter 1
Guy Fawkes Day
"Remus! Put down that book and help me in the kitchen!" Mrs. Lupin scolded her six-year-old son, who was currently glued to his seat in the living room, nose stuck in a book.
Remus was the kind of youngster that, along with playing games with the few other boys he had made friends with in his neighborhood, loved reading. His father found it odd almost that a child his age, given the choice between going outside and staying inside, could only be persuaded one way or the other if a book were involved. His mother, on the other hand, encouraged this, as it would help him as he grew up, and often brought home small books of his level home for him when she went out. She had been right. Remus was very clever for his age, and his mother's encouragements had made it clear he was going to be in the top of his class.
With a sigh, the small boy with toffee colored hair put his book on the table and climbed down out of his father's armchair and made his way to the kitchen. The Lupin's, although not a predominant family in the wizarding world, they were by no means the lowest. In the Muggle world, they would be you're average, middle class family. Mr. Lupin was, at the moment, out at work, leaving his wife and young son to make the preparations for that night's Guy Fawkes Day party.
Remus walked into the kitchen, tawny eyes curious. his mother, a dark haired Welsh woman, turned and saw him, and, with a smile, handed him a cookie sheet.
"Go set that on the table over there, love, and set to work makin' cookies. The batter's already on the table, in that bowl." she said cheerily, nodding to the bowl.
Remus beamed at his mother and set to work making the cookies, a task he always enjoyed, seeing as if he did well, his mum would let him have the batter bowl to have the left over cookie dough. The Lupin's were known for their Guy Fawkes Day party, where they invited some of their close friends over for the night's meal. Those families included the MacDougal's and the Turpin's, whose children were both good friends of Remus. The community was tight-nit and in it, the Lupin's were well thought of.
Half way through putting gobs of cookie dough on the pan, the back door opened, letting a chilly breeze of crisp air in as Mr. Lupin came in home from work, early since it was a holiday. He shut the door behind him, sandy hair much like his son's in disarray and cheeks flushed from the bite of the air outside. It was evident that Remus had gotten his looks from his father: they could be carbon copies.
"Da!" the young boy squealed and hopped to the floor, scampering to his father.
"There's my boy, och, ye've gone and gotten dough all over me now.. " he chuckled and ruffled his son's hair. "Everything well Clara?"
His wife smiled and gave a wave of her hand, and bent to take a casserole from the oven before going over and kissing her husband on the cheek.
"'Course it is. Halfway done, all I need is the turkey." she said with a wink.
"Won't this little chap do?" her husband replied with a grin, gesturing to his son, who gave an indignant look.
"I'm not a turkey Mum!"
"I know yer not sweetie, go on back to the cookies." she said knowingly, and swatted her husbands arm.
"Guess that means we'll have to go and catch one Rem, don't it?" he said to his son, who now, instead of showing an indignant look, glowed with excitement.
One thing that was customary, or that had been for a year now, was for Mr. Lupin to take his son out to hunt a turkey for Christmas or some other holiday. What the boy didn't know was that wild turkeys were not common around their parts, in fact they didn't even live there, and the purpose of the little hunt was for Remus and his father to have time together, since his work often led the father to be gone for significant amounts of time. Leaving Clara to raise the boy by her own standard, which would inadvertently be a savior to the boy.
Being around his mother more, he caught onto her wit and jesting, and though he was graced with his father's looks, he was blessed with his mother's mind. She may be a half blood, but she made top marks in her classes, and was a very sharp and clever woman. His father was in his own right, but it took diligent study and hard work for him. Remus' mother also taught him manners ("Always be polite, e'en if that person 'asn't done a thing nice to ye. They'll get their round back to them, but 'least ye did your part."), and he got his calm, passive nature from her as well.
Mr. Lupin's footsteps grew harder to detect as he made his way upstairs to change from work clothes to clothes he could go outside in, and Remus hurried through the rest of the batter.
"Ah, ah! Now make sure you did those right, Remus." his mother told him loftily but sternly as she briskly walked by him with a pan full of ham.
Remus sighed and went over his job, making sure he had done as he was told and found that he had made the last two cookie blobs exceptionally larger then the rest and broke them up into smaller bits to fit and fill out the rest of the pan.
"Good, good, now go get dressed, I'll put these in and yes, you can have the bowl." she chuckled and watched her son run to his room to get changed.
Both returned shortly, the elder dressed in heavy, warm robes, and the younger in his "outside" clothes that looked like they had been worsened five times over and a warm cloak over it. Just then, Mrs. Lupin drop her kidney pie.
"Bollocks!" she swore under her breath and produced her wand from one of her hidden pockets in her skirts and cleaned up the mess.
"Alright there?" Mr. Lupin asked, forcing a straight face. His wife glowered at him a moment, but soon whipped the look away as her son popped into view.
She went over and bent down to kiss his forehead, then leaned up to kiss her husbands cheek. "Take care you two, I want you both back in one piece, y'hear?" she said with good-natured motherliness.
"'Course Clara dear, alright champ, you ready to go?" Mr. Lupin asked his son, a quick smile on his face. Remus grinned up at his father, earning himself a hair ruffle from his father. "We'll be back before sundown." he told Clara, knowing she already had a turkey in the oven, ready for dinner that night, and turned leading his son out the door into the cool evening to the woods beyond their home.
Author's Note: Oro? lol.. That was a bit much, but next chapter we get to see what happens to poor wittle Remmie, and his mother who I'm surprised....well, you'll see ;) Hope ye enjoyed!
EDIT: Thanks Marz, for pointing out my blatantly STUPID mistake. THIS is what I get for writing a plot bunny fic too fast. Thanksgiving in Britain. Urgh. I should be slapped. There, I changed it with a correct holiday ^_^. But about the turkeys, it works. There isn't supposed to be any, it's just for Xavier to spend time with Remus. lol
