The Werewolf

by Ashika

Lupin forgets to take his Wolfsbane one night, and the Werewolf emerges. Powerful in his own right, the Werewolf is arrogant and destructive. Not any wonder coming from a being who considers himself to be perfection…

Title: The Werewolf

Author Name: Ashika

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: Lupin forgets to take his Wolfsbane one night, and the Werewolf emerges. Powerful in his own right, the Werewolf is arrogant and destructive. Not any wonder coming from a being who considers himself to be perfection…

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I am a Dark Beast, created by moonlight. No one dares to come near me. They dare not leave my sight. I come and I go, taking what I please. I am animal instincts with human intelligence. My human is weak and foolish, but the wolf is perfection. Remember that. I am perfection.

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My true form is revealed by the light of a full moon. My human quivers and moans. Inwardly, I smile. I will soon rule the night. My skin hardens and is soon covered with a beautiful silver coat. My frail human hands and feet condense into flawless paws; paws that have claws as sharp as daggers. My human head, a ridiculously shaped part of my body, transforms into a head like that of a wolf. I grin; the transformation is almost complete. My arms and legs shorten; they become better suited for my majestic lope. Soon after, a tail grows from my behind. The long and luxurious fur that covers it is my pride and joy. Finally, my eyes turn into a pale golden color. A color so bright, and so beautiful, I captivate any person who looks into my eyes. Of course…most people see my body first and run away in terror.

My human side has forgotten to take his Wolfsbane Potion tonight; he has been busy with the uprising of some wizard. He has been ignoring the signs of my awakening in order to complete an assignment for his clan; I have also been whispering to him to forget the signs. His pack, some foolishly named pack…something to do with a phoenix…has been very worried about something. About the so-called evil wizard (who would have no power against me). And he has been depressed. Someone close to him was killed. 

He is eternally impatient with me and my snide remarks against his work. I personally do not see why he is impatient with me and has so much patience with those foolish men he surrounds himself with; especially that boy, the one with the scar on his head.

 I am grateful for his forgetfulness, and I tell him so. He is not amused. I extremely dislike the potion he takes to keep me in control. It confuses me and makes me feel sick. When he takes it, the only thing I am able to do is curl into a ball and lie on the floor. The pain is always on the brink of it being unbearable. I always manage, somehow.

As it is the first night of many that I am able to roam free, I honor my maker will a loud howl. I walk carefully out of my human's library and down the hallway. It is very dark, but I can see well. Sight in the dark is just one of the superior aspects of this body, one of many. The stairs leading to the ground floor loom in front of me, but I grin. I leap elegantly, covering them all without a second thought. I trot through the different rooms to the back door. I do not really feel that I need to show myself to the silly people who live near my human. I nudge the door open and leap out into the yard. I look up and see that the moon is bright. I give a small growl to show my happiness. I will be very strong tonight, very strong.

There is a dense forest behind my human's house, maybe he knew that one day he would forget to take his Wolfsbane Potion. I ask him, but he refuses to answer me. He is sulking. I cannot blame him; living in his mind is very dreary business. I run and leap over the fence of his backyard. I smile to myself; I have not been able to run this freely in many, many months.

I soon realize that I am very hungry. It appears to me that my human has not deigned to eat for a couple of days. I do not appreciate this, but I will make the best of it. Hunting is one of my favorite pastimes, and I would miss it terribly, but I prefer to hunt recreationally. I do not like the idea that my existence depends on my hunting skills. Perhaps I have been tainted by this "civilized" culture and am becoming lazy in my older age.

I digress, this is not important. What is important is my next meal. I cannot decide whether I would prefer a rabbit or some mice. I know I would prefer human, but there are rarely any humans around here and I am not up to searching for a human just yet.

 A rustle of dead leaves comes from my right, and I snap my head around. I sniff carefully with my nose. Whatever made the noise was not a rabbit, but it certainly something edible. Although…anything that moves can be eaten.

I trot over to where the creature had been moving. A frightened screech emerges from underneath the leaves. I drag my paw over the leaves and a small hog appears. How the hog got under there, I do not wish to know. The hog immediately leaps up and runs away as fast as it can go. I smile to myself, and let it start its escape. I enjoy chasing my prey.

When it is so far away that I can barely see it, I begin my chase. The wind whispers in my ears as I chase after the hopeless creature. I am soon near to it, and I growl menacingly. I huff softly, and pounce upon the hog. My claws begin to dig into its back and it squeals loudly. I growl in satisfaction, when a bullet of lead pierces into my shoulder. I roar with rage and spin around to look at the being who dared to disturb me. The hog behind me squeals pathetically and runs raggedly away.

A human stands before me, a shotgun held loosely in his hands. My wound drips with blood, but I disregard the pain. It is really nothing to worry about. I growl menacingly at the human, and he trembles even more than before. I crouch and get ready to jump; he fumbles with his gun and cocks it. I jump at him and swipe away the gun. It lands nearby and goes off with a loud BANG! I am on top of the puny human and I look straight into his eyes. His breathing, highly irregular, slows and returns to a normal speed.

I am about to bite him when my human mind takes control. I am very surprised. My human has never been able to do this before. He has never had such control. This makes me angry. He makes me get off him, but my eyes still entrance the human. He stands slowly, and begins to back away. I blink my eyes and the spellbound look is wiped from his face. My human side loses his control. I snap at the human's feet and he stumbles away. My laughter follows him, in a series of short barks.

I am now famished. My prey has gotten away because of my human side, and because of the stupid human. By now I would have eaten the hog and gone back to my human's home. Well, that is not quite true. I have always loved the taste of raw flesh. I can never seem to get enough of it, and I have not feasted in many years. I throw my head back and sniff the air. Flesh. I need flesh, and soon.

I smell the human again, with two more running beside him. Maybe he thinks he can kill me. He will be in for a surprise. I run toward them. Their scent draws closer and my mouth begins to water. My eyes flash with the moonlight that filters through the trees. My lips draw back in a feral smile. Although, I assume that most humans would not think it was a smile. I howl as I run, and I smell the fear begin to radiate off the humans. They slow their steps; I run faster. I am soon close to them.

Their heavy breathing blows sharply through their noses; my breath has not even begun to pick up speed. I growl with laughter, and they jump. I can hear their steps as they turn in circles. I can almost read their minds. They want to run away, but they do not know where I am. They do not know what they want. They are afraid and they do not know how to protect themselves. They are pathetic.

I jump through the bushes and pounce upon one man. He screams in pain as I rip at his chest. Blood spills from his open wound and his friends are afraid. They are more frightened than before. I can hardly decide whether to keep the human I have or to chase the others. My excitement is incredible. I want them all. I decide to let them go for now. I leap at one man, but he jumps away and runs as fast as he can. The other man takes the cue and runs as well. I turn to the man whimpering pitifully on the ground and I smile. He sees my smile and screams.

I laugh at him. He smells of fear and hatred. Of pain and death. Yes, he will soon be dead.  He is prey. His fear and pain are well earned; hatred is easily dealt with and turned into more fear. I rip flesh from his face and he screams. I inwardly frown, and then snap at his neck. His jugular is soon in my mouth and I spit it out. I have no need for his body parts, just for his flesh. His wonderful, beautiful, edible flesh. I lick at the blood and it washes down my throat.

My human mind struggles to regain control, but I have had enough of him for the night. I banish him to the depths of my mind. The prey's clothing is sticking to his body; I tear the arm of his shirt away. The cotton is dry in my mouth, and is not worth the energy it would take to chew. I spit it out onto the ground. I pull more flesh from the body, from the arm. He is already dead, but the flesh is still calling me. I rip at the rest of his shirt, and then tear away the denim of his trousers. I eat all of the flesh, and lap up much of the blood. I am soon eager for more, and there is none left.

I sniff the air, but the prey's companions are long gone. I can still sense a small trail leading to them, but it is fading fast. I snarl furiously; they would not have gotten away if I had been thinking clearly. They would still be here if I had thought to remember that they are frail humans while I was a perfect beast, made to hunt and kill. I am the ultimate predator. I frown inwardly at myself and run after the vanishing trail. It comes to a dead end and I am furious with myself.

I look up into the sky, and the moon is almost halfway down. I snort and wince, remembering that my shoulder had been wounded. It begins to pain me greatly now, and I nip at the wound in a futile attempt to stop the pain. I soon decide that my work is going to go unredeemed, so I attempt to block the pain and to sniff out my next meal.

The air has cooled considerably, and I shudder slightly. I begin to trot back the way I had come. The trail of the humans is long gone, and I doubt that they will come back. The pain of my shoulder slowly fades as I trot through the forest. I pick up the rustle of leaves with my keen hearing. I take the time to investigate the source of the noise with my nose. A human!

This has been my lucky night. Two humans in one night is nothing to shake a stick at. I lick my lips and set my legs in motion toward the human. As I get closer, I find that I am getting hungrier. It will not be long before I am drooling, something I pride myself on never doing. I am soon only a few trees away from the human.

The human is small, it must be a child. I sneak closer, intent on attacking her by surprise. Closer and closer I get, until I am nearly on top of her. I sniff the air close to her. I am surprised, I can smell salt. I sniff closer; the girl is crying. I growl in the back of my throat, this will be perfect. This will be an easy and quick kill. I smile the smile that humans never seem to like.

I crouch into an attacking position and leap, only to find myself soaring over the girl. I struggle to keep my body in control; my human side has made another effort to dominate me. I snarl in frustration and try to gain control once again. My human side is holding my body, adamantly refusing to let go. I cannot go after the girl, and yet I will not let my body leave. We are in a stalemate, and my human side knows it. I wonder how long he can hold control until he is too weak to prevent me from going after the girl.

I look up into the sky and find that the moon is almost completely down. I scowl with irritation, at this rate I will not get the girl. I sniff at the air to make sure the girl is still there; I can't see her. My eyes widen with anticipation, there is someone looking for her and they are coming close. I struggle wildly against my human's restraint and I can feel the mental bonds beginning to fray; I struggle harder.

The bonds finally snap when I realize something is amiss. I snap my head up to look at the sky. I snarl when I take in the lightness of the sky. I look to where the moon should still be up and see that it is on the verge of dipping into the horizon. I howl and run away from the humans. If they were to find me they would surely try to kill me, and most likely succeed.

I am not too far from my human's living space, when I stop. The moon is no longer in the sky, I can feel the effects beginning to take over me. I shudder in pain. I am fading, as surely as the moonlight above me is fading into dusk. I throw my head back and howl to my creator. Why is it forsaking me? Why must it depart, and leave me to reside in the puny human's head until it comes again? Why, when I am perfection, must I be degraded in such a manner? I can feel my body parts changing from their beautiful and strong features into the frail and ugly body of a human. I snarl in pain and disgust. And then I am gone.

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My name is Remus Lupin, and I am a werewolf. My werewolf half is an arrogant beast, and believes he is perfect. He believes that he is smarter than I am, and that he is the more powerful than I. He is wrong. I am the one who is in control. I may not detain him from all unforgivable things. Such is my life. But I will always have more control. I am always going to be in control. Remember that. I am in control.

AN: I'm not so sure that the events causing Lupin to forget to take his Wolfsbane potion are believable…but that's what you get for reading one of my fics. :P Anyway, thanks for reading this fic of mine. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

ratty210@hotmail.com