The Life and Times of Remus J. Lupin
Prologue, Part I
I, Rhys, do not own the characters copyrighted to J.K. Rowling and whoever else has gotten a piece of them. I do not own her world. I just like to play with it.
On October 3rd, 1960, Dinah and Nicander Lupin had a son. Nicander, whose name was Roman (to his knowledge) and who'd always had a love of history, named his son Remus after one of the twins who'd founded Rome. The Lupins had always wanted two children, and Nicander, before he did a little more research and found out the exact circumstances of the first Remus's death, had always secretly wished for a son to name Romulus and complete the set. However, by the time they'd been through Remus's colic, teething, and terrible twos, both parents were exhausted and no longer had a desire to repeat the childrearing experience from square one.
Nicander Lupin had honey-brown hair, brown eyes, and a wand made of willow exactly ten inches long and containing one unicorn hair. He was a wizard, and worked for the Ministry of Magic as a Muggle Relations Specialist. His wife, Dinah, was a Muggle. Remus had his father's hair and his mother's lovely blue eyes. He did not have her very limited concept of magic. Consequently, when a three-year-old Remus was found after a nap in the backyard with his father's wand, turning patches of grass into small fires, Dinah was somewhat alarmed.
Nicander, on the other hand, was delighted, and took the entire family out for a celebratory dinner. This was not the best course of action as it encouraged Remus to steal his father's wand more often, but after some explanation to Dinah, both parents were proud to have such a magically talented little boy.
Nicander worked 9-5 at the Ministry and Dinah owned and ran a bookshop in town. Thus, Remus was sent to a Muggle preschool from the age of four, but after a few mysterious explosions, 2-foot butterflies, and flying building blocks, the Lupins took their son out of public school to educate him at home. Dinah hired some nice, responsible, local teenagers to run the shop most days and stayed home with her son, who was a happy, bright, and carefree soul despite his frequent emotional outbursts. He often had play dates with his friends from preschool. The children would play in the Lupin's backyard or, when they got a bit older, in the woods nearest the house, but still in sight. The adults sat in the kitchen with the windows and doors open; chatting about this and that while watching their children laugh and run.
Remus, who had from the time he was very small had a fascination with the heavens, often stayed up well past his bedtime, stargazing through his bedroom window. On the nights his friends slept over, they sometimes joined him and sometimes simply fell asleep. Nicander, who'd never been very good in Astronomy, could only help his son marginally with the identifying of the stars and constellations in the night sky, but Remus was able to glean from his father's teachings the constellations Orion, Cygnus, and Gemini, as well as the planet Mars.
The moon in particular held a lot of fascination for Remus, who found his father's old Astronomy, Standard Grade 1, by Gertrude Geller, tucked away in the attic during spring cleaning when he was six. Remus, whose mother had taught him to read two years before, was able decipher most of the words and puzzle through the ones he didn't know. He was fascinated by the moon's pull, its control of the tides, and the changes it went through each month, waxing and waning as if it were going through mood swings.
Remus's seventh birthday fell on a day when the moon was in a quiet, sad mood. It moon was dark, to his extreme disappointment, but his mother made his favorite meal and his favorite dessert. And despite the lack of moon, his parent's gift to him, a small pocket telescope, more than made up for it.
Exactly two weeks later, Remus and that same telescope were out in the backyard of his home. Remus could hear his parents talking in the kitchen, the door open to let in the cool evening air. The moon was rising in the east, just peeking above the horizon, and Remus's telescope was trained directly on it. The light from the sun had not completely faded, and the moon was dim. Remus could make out that it was full, at least, and thought that perhaps, if he could climb a tree and get closer to it, the moon would be more easily seen. If he got close enough and looked hard through his telescope, would he be able to see the Muggles his mother said had landed there?
The notion took hold of his brain, and with a fleeting, slightly guilty glance back towards the warm, yellow light of his kitchen, and his parents inside, Remus folded the telescope, dropped it into his pocket, slipped off his shoes, then sprinted through the grass of his backyard to the edge of the woods. He stopped for a moment and looked back once more to be sure that his parents hadn't seen or heard him, and then continued on, leaving the safety of the backyard.
The trees were widely spaced and countless paths from previous adventures had been worn in between them, and Remus had an easy time of it close to the house. Only once did he step on a pinecone and have to stop for a moment, examining the foot to make sure it was all right. It hurt, and he let a few tears slide down his cheek, reconsidered this particular escapade, fleetingly wishing for the warm light of the kitchen. But after a few moments of sniffles and deep breaths, Remus recovered and continued. Soon the path became less well established and the trees grew closer together. Now Remus was walking continuously on a bed of pinecones, and though this hurt far more than just one at a time, Remus had already made up his mind to see this journey through to its end. He didn't stop.
Maybe five minutes later, during which the sun had sunk almost completely to the west and the moon had risen several degrees in the east, Remus came upon a clearing. He'd been to this particular place maybe twice before on hikes with his father, and both times remembered having climbed a particularly easy oak tree. He spotted that same oak, across the clearing and started towards it. But he stopped, stock-still, upon hearing a low, menacing growl to his right.
Slowly, Remus turned his head to look. There was nothing for a moment, then a rustling of underbrush and a large, fierce-looking dog stepped into the clearing, amber eyes fixed on Remus. Remus's mouth opened in an 'o' and he stood for a moment, staring at the creature, which suddenly broke its gaze to shake violently and fall to the ground, keening painfully. Remus took this as his chance and sprinted for the oak, not noticing the sharp pinecones underfoot now, his small body completely charged with adrenaline.
A few feet away from the tree he made a flying leap for the bottom branch, and just managed to catch it.. It was at that moment that Remus realized two things. One, he'd been screaming ever since the dog (wolf, he realized) had entered the clearing, and two, he hadn't made it to the tree quickly enough after all. The wolf had recovered fast, chased after him, and currently had a hold on his calf and was pulling him down. Remus began screaming anew as the pain that must have started some moments ago came rushing up to meet him just as fast as the ground did. He fell and landed with a sickening crack on his left arm, the wolf still latched onto his calf, shaking back and forth now like a pit bull with a teddy bear.
The wolf detached, and for a split second Remus was staring into livid yellow eyes, which regarded him almost sapiently for just a moment before glazing over. The wolf pounced, and Remus, at seven years old, realized that he was going to die.
At that moment, with a sharp pop, Nicander Lupin Apparated over his son's prone body and, with what Remus later realized was a frying pan, swung at the wolf. The resounding crack that followed was surprising, even to Nicander, who jumped back. The wolf fell unconscious to the ground. Not stopping to check the state of the animal, Nicander scooped his son up and ran, full tilt, back towards the house.
Remus was in shock. He felt a dull throbbing in his arm and wondered why he was having trouble moving it before he remembered the crack that had sounded he's been pulled down by the wolf. His calf seemed too warm, wet with something, and the puncture wounds there were burning like someone had poured hydrogen peroxide on them. Remus caught a glance of his mother's face, screaming as she looked at him, then saw the fireplace in their living room spring to life, saw the flames burn green and heard his father roar, "St. Mungos!" at the top of his lungs as he dove head first into the flames, carrying Remus with him.
The world was now a swirling mass of colors and shapes, and ash flew into Remus's nose, eyes, and mouth. Belatedly, he shut his eyes tight. The spinning suddenly stopped, but Remus found that his eyes didn't want to open. The burning from the wounds in his calf was beginning to spread upwards towards his knee. Remus considered telling his father this, but Nicander seemed busy.
"Sir, you can't just rush in here, there's a sign-in sheet over there and you-"
"Werewolf attack!"
"Good god! Over here, right away!"
Remus felt himself change hands and was suddenly laying down on something scratchy and hard, suspended maybe a yard in the air, though he was still moving. He struggled for a moment and finally got one eye open. Quickly, he shut it again, as he was only staring up at a woman clad in a lime green color that hurt his eyes.
"Dad…" Remus called out weakly, but there was no reply. Either his father was gone or he just hadn't heard him over the movement and noise.
Remus sensed a door bursting open in front of the woman and whatever conveyance she was carrying him on.
"What's this, Anna?"
"Werewolf bite, Hippocrates. This boy needs treatment now!"
"Put him up here."
Remus felt himself being lifted, magically because he felt no hands on his back, off of what he now saw was a stretcher and onto a rather firm, flat bed. He cried out in surprise and pain when a wand prodded at his wound, and looked in that direction to see a young looking healer, also dressed in green, examining the teeth marks on his leg and occasionally pointing or prodding with his wand and whispering incantations under his breath. It seemed as though the flesh was healing, though there was too much blood to see properly what was happening, and Remus's calf still burned. He whimpered, and the woman who'd brought him cooed something soothing.
"How did it happen?"
"We're not sure," she said, apparently answering the man's question, "His father was rather agitated, understandably. I didn't wait around for the whole story."
"Right you were," the man said with a nod, "He could have bled to death. It's a miracle the beast didn't go right for the neck. Were you trying to get away, son?"
Remus stared at the man for a moment before realizing this question was directed to him, and he nodded weakly. The pain was not so great that he couldn't bear it, but the burst of adrenaline and now this calm, ordered place had given his world a disjointed, slow feel.
"He's gone into mild shock, I'd say. I don't suppose you know what happened to the beast? No?"
"Will he be alright, Hippocrates?"
"Oh, his skin and muscle will be fine. He's already close to healed...his- father, did you say?- must have arrived just in the nick of time. Compared to other bites I've seen, he's hardly got a scratch. But, of course, there's nothing to stop the bite from taking effect."
The woman gasped, and the hand she'd unconsciously lain on Remus's shoulder flew to her side. "You can't mean..." she stole a quick, incredulous glance at Remus.
The man nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so." Apparently seeing the horrified look on her face, he continued with, "For goodness' sake, there's no need to be so surprised, Anna! What on earth did you expect from a werewolf bite?"
Anna nodded stiffly, her shocked look quickly replaced by a cold one. "I suppose I'll go fetch his family, then. They'll have a lot to talk about."
She left quickly, and the man who'd healed Remus's leg (though it continued to burn) moved up to work on his arm.
"This will hurt a bit...I didn't catch your name. What was it?"
Again, it took Remus a while to process the fact that he was being talked to. "Remus," he managed, staring dully at what the man was doing to his arm.
"Remus. That's a nice name. Remus, my name is Hippocrates Smethwyk and I'm going to heal your arm now. It will hurt a bit, and then it should go numb, but you must be careful not to move it more than necessary, do you understand?"
Remus nodded.
"Alright then," Hippocrates again pointed his wand, there was a sharp pain and a grating noise that Remus heard in his bone rather than his ears, and then his arm did indeed go numb. Remus made a conscious effort to hold it immobile. "Now that's done, Remus, I have something very important to say to you. A werewolf bit you. You're not going to die, and for the most part you'll be fine, but Remus, from now on, for the rest of your life, on the night of every full moon, you will be turning into a wolf. I don't know whether your parents have told you anything about werewolves, and this is all very hard to understand now, but I want you to try and do something for me. Will you?"
Remus nodded, trying to pay attention to the intensity of Hippocrates's words.
"I want you to promise me that for the rest of your life, on the night of the full moon when you change into a wolf, you will do everything you possibly can to be sure that you never, ever bite another human being. Do you understand that, Remus?"
Remus didn't understand at all. He nodded anyway. Hippocrates stared at him fixedly for a moment before rising as the door to the room burst open.
"Where is my son? They told me he was here, isn't this the Dai Llewellyn Ward?" Dinah Lupin, followed by an equally agitated but silent Nicander, rushed in. Remus had no idea how she'd gotten there. There was no way she could have Apparated, mother didn't know magic...
It was a mystery for another time. Dinah didn't stop to greet or ask questions of Hippocrates, who had stood and approached the two parents. She strode immediately to Remus's bed, saw the blood (now drying) all over his lower body and the sheets he was laying on, and let out the scream that only a mother can muster.
"Remus! What's wrong with him? Why is he still bleeding? Where's the doctor, what's happened to my son!" She threw her arms around Remus, then immediately withdrew, babbling now in a panicky, manic way, "God, did I hurt you? Where does it...Remus? Can you hear me, sweetie?"
"Mum," Remus said, which sent Dinah into hysterics again, "I'm all right. It doesn't hurt anymore, it's okay." This was a lie. From Remus's calves now, and all the way up to his navel was burning from the inside, but Remus, young though he was, could not stand to see his mother worry so much.
Meanwhile, a pale and straight-faced Nicander Lupin had greeting Hippocrates and was involved in soft discussion with him a few yards away though his eyes stayed on his son. Dinah, who was absorbed in checking every inch of her son, did not notice, but Remus heard soft snatches of the conversation.
"Break it to her slowly, she doesn't know..."
"He understands what...?"
"He's so young. I'm afraid it will be..."
Trying to block the whispers out, and wishing the burning that was now spreading to his chest would go away, Remus closed his eyes and did not open them again until he felt a hand on his forehead. Standing over him was his father, and Remus saw that a somber Hippocrates was leading his mother out into the hall. Nicander did not fuss over Remus. He did not check to be sure that everything was in the right place. He just kept his hand, cool and gentle, on Remus's forehead as he spoke.
"Remus. Do you remember when I told you the story I heard from your grandfather, a little before your birthday, about the man who turned into a wolf and killed villagers until he was shot with a silver bullet and died?"
Remus cast his mind back, and recalled something of that nature. He nodded.
"Remus, the kind of creature that man was...that was the kind of creature that bit you. Do you remember what I told you happened to the man that creature bit in the story?"
Remus could only vaguely recall the story itself, and did not remember this detail. He shook his head. Nicander sighed and mumbled an "Accio," pointing his wand at a nearby chair, and drawing it close enough to sit down in.
"The man who was bitten by the creature they killed later...he started turning into a wolf as well. He couldn't control it, and there was no way he could keep himself from turning into a wolf." He paused for a long moment, letting this sink in, or perhaps just gathering his strength for what he was about to say. "Remus, the same thing that happened to the man in the story…that is going to happen to you. Your mother, doesn't really understand that stories like that can be real, so Mr. Smethwyk is trying to explain it to her, but I don't know if she'll really get it until she sees it happen. Remus, I'm sure you don't understand all of this now…unfortunately, you'll understand it all too soon. We're going to stay in the hospital tonight so you can talk to Mr. Smethwyk in the morning. Please try to sleep now. Mum'll be in to say goodnight in a moment."
Remus nodded. His body was still burning, all the way up to his neck now, but he was tired. The room was dark, though Remus was sure it had been bright when Hippocrates was working on his injuries, and his father's hand was a calm spot on his forehead to counter the fire in the rest of his body. Maybe fifteen minutes went by before his mother, her face tear-streaked and clammy, re-entered the room.
"Mum, Dad says I can sleep now, okay?" Remus needed to check with his mother on this point for some reason he couldn't really explain to himself. His mother nodded and tried to smile despite the stricken expression on her face. "Alright, honey. Sweet dreams."
With this assurance, Remus closed his eyes. His parents began a whispered conversation, but Remus couldn't hear the words and didn't bother to try. The whispers morphed in his mind into a rustling, windy sort of noise. Remus's body burned and his arm throbbed dully, not painful but still retaining some sensations, as Remus fell into an unsure sleep.