Chapter Two
Outcast

He stood up and walked out of the door, but did not head home. Instead he headed towards the large oak tree he and his friends had been playing under. He slumped down on the ground, not caring that his clothes would get wet and muddy, and stared up at the sky. Why did this have to happen? He asked himself, why? As he was sitting there sleepiness overwhelmed him and he fell into a deep sleep.

He didn't know how long he had been sleeping when someone woke him up. He opened his eyes and saw a woman with the same light brown hair he had, but blue eyes and it was certainly not his mother. It was his Aunt Judith. She was prodding him on the shoulder and telling him to wake up. He hated his aunt and his formidable cousin, they were always so cruel to him and every little thing he did they had criticism for.

"Good you lazy little piece of scum!" she shrieked, showing off her yellowing teeth, "your mother sent me to look for you!"

"Oh joy," Remus said sarcastically raising his index finger and twirling it lifelessly in the air.

"Don't take that tone with me boy!" She snatched him on his bad arm and dragged him to the house. She burst through the front door and hollered "Anna the boy's back!" His mother came bustling in the room and pulled Remus into a hug. Remus looked over her should and saw his eight-year-old cousin Bertha glaring at him. Bertha looked nothing of her mother. She looked more like her father, Albert. She had dirty blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and seemed to never smile. However out of the three of them Remus liked his uncle the best. He never taunted him or called him nasty names unfortunately he wasn't with them. His mother finally released him and he staggered backwards into his aunt. She shrieked and kicked him away.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she screamed.

"Now, now Judith," said Remus's father, who had just entered the room, "Remus has had a tough day." His aunt snarled. She always thought Luke and Anna babied Remus too much since he was an only child. But she wasn't one to talk since she was at her own daughter's command twenty four seven. He had to sit through a long drawling two hours with his two least favourite people then to be sent off to bed with his cousin trailing behind him, mocking him the whole way to his room, where he shouted back at her and slammed the door shut and locked it.

Remus's room was the smallest in the house, filled with nothing more than his bed, a desk, a very small bookshelf and his closet. He sat down on his bed, not bothering to change and was asleep within seconds.

The next morning he awoke to the loud hoots of his owl alarm clock that resided on his desk. He got up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, thinking about the dream he had. He dreamt that he was at the funeral and everyone turned on him. They started saying it was his fault Charles died and that he should do his best to disappear. A minute later his mother came in and told him the funeral was starting at six in the evening so he had all day to get ready. Remus didn't even use all of the day, he was much too busy being yelled at by his relentless aunt and ended up being punished for accidentally stepping on her foot as he was running to the bathroom.

He found his best suit, which was the only suit he had, got a pair of slightly scuffed dress shoes, he got a checkered tie and asked his dad to put it on for him. At six o' clock Remus, his mother, his father, and (to his disgust) his aunt and cousin set off for the local cemetery up the road. It was a chilly evening, the wind was fierce, as usual, but tonight gave a particularly eeriness, especially when heading to a cemetery. When they arrived they saw everyone was already there. Charles's mother was sobbing into her husband's shoulder.

"Hullo, Cornelia, David," Remus's father said to Mr. and Mrs. Wilter, "we are terribly sorry for your loss."

"Oh it's all right," said David, "we're happy you could make it. The funeral's about to start." Remus and his family walked over to find a spot around the dug up grave and listened to the priest talk on and on and well into the dusk. It was growing chilly and the wind pushed back a set of clouds revealing the full moon. Remus didn't know why but all of the sudden he felt really sick.

"Mum," he whispered.

"Yes what is it?" she answered.

"I want to go home."

"Don't be silly, that would be rude."

"No I don't feel good, I want to go home!"

"Its only a few more minutes, dear, you can wait that long, can't you?"

"I guess." He sighed and continued listening. Suddenly he dropped to the floor and curled up into a little ball. His parents and aunt and cousin gasped. Remus was starting to grow rigid, his whole body was becoming longer and longer, he was starting to sprout gray fur. He nose was curving slowly into a snout; his eyes grew longer and turned yellow. His arms became another set of legs and grew paws, his ears enlarged themselves and before he knew anything else, he was a full-fledged werewolf! Screams filled the air as he got to his feet and charged at the crowd. Everyone was running in separate directions screaming their heads off.

Remus's father whipped out his wand and started shooting stunning spells at his son all while saying, "I'm really sorry Remus!" But Remus was too fast for the spells and dodged them all. Unfortunately he could not control himself very well and looked hungrily at his cousin. He started chasing her and she ran full speed down the road with her mother chasing after her. When Remus had his back turned his father shouted a stunning spell that hit him directly in the back of the head and he was stunned.

Remus' father ran over to his son. His eyes were wide with fear, his son was a werewolf! A werewolf! Why had they not bothered to find out what had bitten him? They could have prevented it! He knelt down, a bit cautiously, put a hand on Remus' snout nose and turned it so he could look. It was true, their son was a monster, and he could not do anything about it. Anna ran over to her husband and dropped down to her knees.

"I caught Judith down the road," she whispered. "She and Bertha are going to owl Albert and he'll be here as soon as possible, but we have to get Remus to St. Mungo's now!" Luke nodded; he waved his wand and conjured up a stretcher and a blanket. He put the blanket over his son and with his wife; they walked to their house.

When Remus at last opened his eyes, he hadn't a clue as to where he was. All around him were white walls and three other beds besides his. He tried sitting up but ended up retching all over his sheets. He groaned and fell backwards, where am I? he thought. He heard a door burst open and saw a man in what seemed to be a white lab coat march into the room followed by Remus's parents, aunt, uncle and cousin. Apparently his uncle had heard about what he had done and came straight to their aid.

"Really, Mr. Lupin," said the man in the coat, "performing a stunner on your eight year old?"

"Well there was no other way to tame him," Mr. Lupin answered nervously, "we had no idea this would all happen! We didn't even know what had bitten him!"

"Than why didn't you bring him straight here! You know what lives in that forest! A werewolf bit him! He is a danger to everyone!" Remus couldn't listen to that man yelling at his dad anymore so he decided to make himself noticed by clearly his throat over loudly. They all gasped by the sudden noise and turned to him. He saw that his aunt and cousin were furious at him, though he didn't know why. He didn't remember anything after he told his mother he wanted to leave.

"You see I didn't kill him, he's perfectly fine!" his father yelled.

"Luke calm yourself," Mrs. Lupin said warningly.

"Why should I? I want another Healer! My son doesn't deserve you!"

"You want another one? Fine there are tons in this building, I'll go get one!" With that the Healer stormed out of the room, slammed the door shut behind him, all while rousing a couple of snoozing patients. His father, still fuming and muttering wildly under his breath, pulled up a chair and set it next to his son's bed. His mother conjured up four more and placed them around the bed.

"Where am I?" Remus asked weakly, his face was just as sickly green and his hands were just as pale as they had been the day before.

"St. Mungo's" his mother answered shakily, "Oh I can't believe this is happening. My son is a werewolf!" A few of the patients the Healer had awoke, gasped and yanked the curtains hanging around their beds around so they could get a better look. Remus turned red when he saw this.

"Okay he's a werewolf you see people! Mind your own business! Don't mind them," his uncle said, "half of them act like they've never one!"

"What happened last night?" Remus continued.

"You went all rigid the moment the full moon appeared, you transformed into a werewolf. You started chasing everyone at the funeral and then-"

"Went after my daughter, you rat!" his aunt cut in.

"Judith!" His uncle shouted, "Leave the boy alone! He doesn't need your rudeness now!" His aunt opened her mouth to retort but quickly shut it. Nobody said anything else and honestly Remus didn't want them to. All this information was too much for him to handle, his whole world was crumbling into pieces and he couldn't stop it. He was a werewolf, a beast! Why did this have to happen to him? What had he done to deserve this? Tears must have been coming down his face because his mother handed him a handkerchief. He took it, wiped his eyes and just stared at the ceiling, knowing everyone was looking avidly at him. He wished they would look away and leave him alone. Just as he was about to tell them that the door burst open again and a new Healer strode in. He seemed to be distraught at the moment. His coat was wrinkled and his glasses had fallen off his face and were clinging to his collar.

"Madman Wotcher is," he muttered, "now what can I help you with?" he added turning to the Lupins.

"Well you know about our son's... condition right?" said Mrs. Lupin, "What are we going to do about it?"

"Yes I do and there are some necessary precautions that you should take," the Healer replied, straightening his coat and rearranging his glasses, "One: always keep track of the full moons. Two: I think you should maybe, I know this sounds cruel but its for his safety as well as everyone else's, lock him in his room when he transforms."

"But isn't there a cure?"

"No our kind has not yet found a cure for this, I'm afraid there isn't one and until there is, you son will be a werewolf. Now I think it is best for him to stay the night. Good day folks," and with that he was gone. After an hour or so of nothing but plain silence, except from the other patients in the room, Remus' parents, uncle, aunt and cousin left him to be by himself. Remus wondered whether all those muggles there remembered any of his first transformation and if they did, what would they think of him? He didn't know, and quite honestly didn't want to because he knew they would never accept him anymore, he knew he would live as an outcast for the rest of his life.