A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you like my story..........I just noticed that there weren't enough stories about werewolves. I like dark creatures and stuff, so here we are. Thanks to my editor Kicksomeass.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from it. None. Nada. Nothing. Not Hogwarts, the Marauders, or even werewolves. I only own Kelly. As for the rest..............I simply torture them. Poor Remus.
Chapter One: To Hogwarts
Kelly tossed her red hair behind her shoulder impatiently, tapping her shoe to the polished floor over and over again.
"Mother! Can I please go now?" the fifteen year-old asked with an exasperated tone. Her mother clicked her tongue and planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
"Alright, but head straight over there. And no detours! Write at least once a month and for heavens sake, please try to bring someone home for Christmas! It gets dull around here." She said with a smile, ushering Kelly out the door. Kelly plastered a fake grin on her face and replied quickly.
"I'll see. Most of my friends go to their own homes for the holidays, but I'll ask them." Kelly said goodbye to her mother before running off towards her school.
"Kelly!" Her mother cried out.
"Yes Mum?" She called back.
"Do you have your trunk?" Kelly shook her head and smiled.
"We brought it to Hogwarts yesterday Mum! Remember?" Kelly's mother paused for a moment before shrugging.
"I do now! Bye honey! Love you!" Kelly rolled her eyes and dashed into the forest. Kelly and her mother lived on the edge of Hogsmeade in a small, modest home. Her father was, in her opinion, a good for nothing drunk who should be dead by now. Unfortunately for her, he wasn't. Even worse, he had a lot of trouble finding work, so Kelly's mother, Carolyn, resorted to getting a job at the Three Broomsticks, working underneath Madam Rosmerta. Kelly helped them out when she could, which was every summer, to get extra money for new robes and supplies. That way, her mother could worry about feeding and housing her family without the worry of how her child was going to get supplies for Hogwarts. Although she knew that Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, would be glad to help them in this matter, neither female wished for charity and were perfectly happy with Kelly's second-hand robes, wand, and textbooks. They were actually very lucky they lived so close to the school. This way, Kelly could walk to school and get a discount on her school fees for not taking the train. Well, Kelly wanted slightly better quality things, but didn't push her luck. She was lucky that she could go to school at all.
Kelly looked up at the full moon and admired its beauty. She had always liked to takes walks in the moonlight. By the time she reached the halfway point, the young witch was feeling slightly edgy. She constantly felt like someone was watching her, a feeling that can be quite unnerving. Finally, Kelly shakily pulled her wand out of her pocket and turned around quickly.
"Who's there?" She said to the dark depths of the trees. No one answered. Kelly examined her surroundings very carefully before she continued on her journey, keeping hold of her wand. A wolf's howl echoed not too far away from her. The girl's mind immediately went through her storage of spells, trying to think of which one would effectively keep a wolf away from her. A dog's barking soon followed the heart-wrenching noises. Stunning spells. Her mind stopped there and she put her wand at the ready, preparing herself for the worst, until finally, a pair of great yellow eyes appeared a few mere meters away, Kelly gulped and took a deep breath before shouting.
"Stupefy!" The wolf's eyes narrowed and disappeared. Kelly let go of the breath she had been holding and slumped to the ground. I could have died . . . she realized slowly. The girl walked over to the spot where the wolf was and immediately gasped. It's not there! She thought, panicking. That's when she heard the deep, throaty growl coming from directly behind her. Kelly's eyes widened as she snapped around, about to curse to beast, when it pounced. A scream tore from her lips and blood flowed feely from the aching wound on her leg. The wolf ripped and tore at her very flesh. Tears streamed down her cheeks about as fast as the blood was streaming from her thigh and down her calf. The wolf's razor sharp teeth pulled away from her muscles and sunk into her now bloody calf. Another wail of pain escaped her. Suddenly, a stag and a dog appeared in front of the creature. The great dog leapt onto the wolf, which immediately started fighting back, leaving Kelly for the time being. Kelly lost track of the stag as another wave of pain struck her body.
"Please make it stop!" She moaned. A cool hand made its way to her forehead and her own gray eyes met the concerned brown ones of none other than James Potter.
"J-James? What a-are y-y-you doing here?" She whimpered. James' face turned pale as he examined her leg.
"Was it the wolf that hurt you?" He demanded. Gone was the concerned look and replacing it was one of urgency.
"Yes . . ." she replied sleepily. Kelly's eyes began to close.
"No! Don't go to sleep! You can't sleep!" Kelly sensed the importance f his message so she opened her eyes once more.
"What's your name?" He asked desperately. "Do you go to Hogwarts? Keep talking alright?" James said quickly.
"M-my name's Kelly. K-Kelly Thomas. I'm a fifth year at Hogwarts . . .I'm in Gryffindor . . ." She mumbled, trying to stay awake. James frowned.
She's in Gryffindor? I wonder why I don't recognize her . . . He thought, trailing off as he realized whom this was. Wait a minute. . .This is the girl who Lily hangs out with sometimes. . . At this, James looked over to where his friends, Sirius Black, also known as Padfoot, was keeping the werewolf, Remus, in line. Remus recognized his friend and stopped attacking him, his human mind coming back to him as it often did when he was with his friends. Turning back to Kelly, he noticed her eyes were nearly completely closed and her grip had loosened on his robes.
"No! Kelly don't fall asleep! Kelly!" He said firmly, shaking her. Kelly heard a faint voice calling her away from sleep, but she simply nestled her head further into the side of his leg and slipped from consciousness.
"Padfoot, Moony, I'm gonna take her back to Hogwarts. Go back to the Shrieking Shack alright?" Without even checking for their confirmation, James transformed into a stag. Sirius underwent the transformation from the Grim to his human form and lifted Kelly onto James' back. Waving, he quickly changed back into a dog and playfully tackled Remus, keeping his attention on himself so the werewolf wouldn't follow Kelly and James.
Kelly moaned and opened her eyes weakly. Pain still coursed through her leg and her thoughts were out of control. Focusing her sight, she noticed that she was in the Hospital Wing.
If I'm in the hospital wing, then why does my leg still hurt? Couldn't Madam Pomfrey heal me? I know she's just out of healing school, but sti- Kelly's thoughts were cut of by the abrupt entering of Poppy Pomfrey. The witch hurried over to the now-awake Kelly.
"Are you alright dear? How do you feel?" She fussed, pouring a foul-smelling potion into a goblet.
"Do you really want to know?" She retorted, wincing at the taste of the liquid that Poppy had shoved into her palms.
"Professor Dumbledore will want to talk to you." She said soothingly. Soothing? Why does she sound soothing? Kelly thought puzzledly.
"I suppose it's because I wasn't at the feast. I'm sorry I was late, I got side-tracked and I was late in leaving my home and--"Kelly was, once again, cut off, this time by a voice.
"That is not, Miss Thomas, why I am here to speak with you. It is about your encounter with the wolf yesterday." He explained gravely. Kelly shrugged.
"Why does my leg still hurt? Isn't the pain-killing potion working? Why isn't the bite healed? You've fixed broken arms in seconds, but you can't fix a bite!?" She asked in a confused voice. Dumbledore studied her with pity for a moment before taking a deep breath and starting.
"Kelly, what do you know about werewolves?" He asked quietly. Kelly watched him carefully and answered.
"Well, they are any normal person except on the . . . full . . . moon. . ." Kelly trailed off when her headmaster's meaning caught hold of her.
"I-I-It was a. . .a. . .a-" Kelly's face filled with shock and horror and tears brewed in her cloudy eyes.
"A werewolf," Dumbledore said quietly and softly. Tears began spilling out of Kelly's disbelieving eyes.
"No. . . .no. . . .no. . . .No. . . .NO!" She screamed, jumping out of bed and running out of the hospital wing with amazing speed, considering her injury. Poppy's eyes widened and she made to go after her when Dumbledore reached out and stopped her.
"She needs to take it on her own." He said quietly, shaking his head.
"What about Remus? Will he be expelled?" she asked nervously. Dumbledore shook his head.
"No. Kelly will need him to help her through this. I understand she has no friends in the school, and a fellow werewolf would be able to share her experiences. If Remus can forgive himself, that is."
"Should we tell her that it was him?" She asked softly. Dumbledore, again, shook his head.
"That is for him to say." Poppy nodded mutely and shook her head in sympathy before bustling back to her office.
Kelly ran hard and fast through the great halls of Hogwarts. It was well past midnight, as far as Kelly could tell, and only the waning moon provided the light. Kelly ran sobbing through classrooms and lavatories before finally she stopped the pain too great for her to go on. She sat on the ground and looked out the window at the stars and moon.
'I should have known it was dangerous to go out on a full moon.' She thought angrily. 'I'll never be able to look at the full moon again in my right mind'. Kelly screamed in anger and frustration. Standing up, she swiped out her petite hand and let it connect with the window. Instead of feeling a deep throbbing in her hand, she felt sharp stabbing pains all over it. Looking over to the window incredulously, she stared at the now-broken glass. I never used to be able to do that, Kelly thought wondrously. Shaking her head, she continued her run through the castle, feeling invigorated and free. A smile came to her tear-stained face; a smile of anger, sadness, and rebellion. A smile that knew it would not last the night.
Astronomy Tower. Jump. Those three words were the first that came to her mind and a laugh escaped her lips. Turning around, she headed towards the other end of the castle and the one room in which she hoped to end her life. Suddenly a tall, scrawny, dirty figure connected with her body.
"Oof!" She cried when she feel to the ground with a thump.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice said to her from above. Kelly groaned and stood, standing her ground. After a moment of watching the wicked smile on Filch's lips, Kelly abandoned her look of disappointment and anger at being caught and replaced it with a grin. Filch's smile faltered and his eyes grew big when he saw her wand pointed between his eyes.
"Furnuculus!" She said evilly. Suddenly great, fat, pus-oozing boils began popping up all over Filch's body. Though the biggest and fattest visible ones were on his face, his hands traveled to clutch his groin in agony.
"You'll pay for this!" He hissed at Kelly's retreating back. "You'll be expelled!" Kelly grinned and ran the rest of the way to the Astronomy Tower. 'I can't be expelled if I'm dead.' She thought grimly.
Kelly entered the Astronomy Tower slowly, the reality of her situation finally sinking in. Her once laughing face turned pensive and despair filled her mind. The redhead walked over to the edge of the tower and stared up at the sky. I'm a werewolf. She told herself silently. Tears sprung to her eyes and her muscles seemed to turn to jelly. The girl collapsed onto the window ledge and stared down into the darkness, barely making out the ground far below. A Dark Creature. She thought. Disgust made itself evident on her face. A monster. She thought lastly. The tears that were simply stinging her eyes now tore down her face, one by one. Kelly picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it towards the lake, watching it until it disappeared into the darkness below her. She took a shaky breath before standing up. As she heaved her sore body up, she told herself sternly. A monster like you doesn't deserve to live. The girl took a deep breath and looked one last time down to her fate. Moving her foot out, Kelly prepared to step off. Suddenly an arm grasped itself around her waist and pulled her backwards. Kelly let out a little squeak before she fell on top of whoever 'saved' her.
"What the hell was that for?" She exclaimed, standing up quickly and brushing off her robes.
"Just because of what happened, you shouldn't kill yourself. Trust me, I know you think of yourself as a beast, a monster, a dark creature that doesn't deserve life . . . As much as you think it, you actually wouldn't be doing the world any good in killing yourself." The voice said quietly. Kelly spun around to be met with the figure of Remus Lupin. He watched her carefully, pointedly placing himself between her and the window. Kelly scowled.
"I. . .I wasn't going to k-kill myself!" She said stubbornly. Remus raised an eyebrow but nodded seriously. A blush appeared on his face and he suddenly looked ashamed.
"You were going to," Remus said sharply, "Suicide is just a cast-iron excuse to run away from everything. You won't be solving anything in that way, Kelly. I know how it feels..."He trailed off, looking as if he were going to cry. Kelly turned away, feeling extremely guilty about making him feel so ashamed.
"How would you know about that? You have many friends, and I don't," Kelly said waspishly. "People just go up to you and say, I know how you feel...it's a lie. A total lie just to make someone feel better about him or her. It seems like they care, but in the end, they don't. Why are you up here?"
"I saw you running up here, and I got worried. I thought you were still in the Hospital Wing," Remus replied with a monochromatic tone. "I do know how it feels like, but do not ask me why...you'll be wasting your time. Kelly, if you need someone to confide in, I'm always here..."
"No, you aren't. You are always around those prats, Potter and Black. What if I do tell you my problems? You'll just tell all my itty-bitty damn problems to your friends so that they can make fun of me more! Either way, it wouldn't matter because people don't even know I'm here, let alone living." Kelly spat on the floor, "Everyone treats me like that...they spit on me, not knowing I'm there. I'm lucky to have Lily, but even we aren't that close."
The light etched Remus' gaunt face, "No wonder you have no friends, Kelly, you look down upon yourself. You won't let anyone get close!"
Kelly spun to face Remus, and staring straight into his eyes, "You have no idea what you are talking about! You look down upon yourself too, anyways. Are you trying to prove something here?" She asked him, pain filling her eyes. Remus shook his head with understanding and spoke.
"I'm just trying to say that it's stupid to try and kill yourself before you've even tried to deal with it." He said coolly, his eyes flashing. Kelly took her eyes off of him, staring out into the darkness, and yearning to finish what she had started.
"Fine. I'll deal with it." She responded. "How do you know about it anyways Lupin?" She asked, moving once again to meet Remus' eyes defiantly. Remus looked down uncomfortably.
"I was there with James." He said after a moment. Well, It's half the truth. He told himself with an inward shrug. Embarrassment filled Kelly's chest.
"So you saw then." She said tonelessly. "Great then. Go on. Tell everyone. Just one more thing for the famous Marauders to make fun of me for." She whispered, running out of the room.
A/N: So? You like it? Review please! I don't really like updating without reviews (KSA you don't count!!)