Chapter Three: Cursed

It was nearly nine o'clock when the Lupins finally returned to Sedbergh.  With a loud bang, the Knight Bus materialised out of nothing and screeched to a halt on the grass verge in front of the Lupin's cottage.  Diane climbed carefully down the step, Remus wrapped up in a blanket, half asleep with his head resting on her shoulder.  Julian paid the fare and gratefully hopped down from the purple vehicle.  As the bus reversed and set off again, vanishing into the darkness with another loud bang, Diane pushed open the gate and walked slowly up the path to the front door.

They'd left St. Mungo's as soon as they could after the meeting with Cuttlesworth.  Angry and upset, Diane had not spoken a word since they'd left.  Remus was still feeling some of the affects of the Sleeping Draught he'd been given and kept dozing off.  Upon entering their home, Diane and Julian carefully took their son upstairs and put him to bed.

'He looks so peaceful,' whispered Diane.  She sat on the bed, gently stroking the honey-brown hair off Remus' face.  Curled up on his side with the duvet wrapped tightly around him, he'd fallen into a deep sleep the moment his head had touched the pillow.  Julian nodded, hovering awkwardly in the doorway.  He couldn't rid his memory of the horrifying image of his only child covered in blood, lying half-dead in the stream …  Closing his eyes tightly, Julian shook his head.  It was over now; they didn't have to think about it any more.

Slowly, Diane rose from the bed and kissed Remus goodnight, before gliding silently out of the room.  She was about to close the door when she stopped.  Then she left it open a crack.

'Just in case he wakes up,' she said.

Again, Julian just nodded.  The two of them were pale and blearily eyed, for neither of them had had much sleep the past few days; Julian suspected that tonight would be no different.  Drawing his wife into his arms, they held each other close.  They didn't cry.  There were no more tears to shed.

It was a while before the Lupins went to bed, and even longer for them to fall into an uneasy and restless sleep.

 -o-

The following day, Remus woke up feeling a little better.  Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he snuggled down among the soft pillows and duvet, watching the early morning light as it crept across the room.  The sky was blue and the birds were fluttering through the air, chirping happily.  A bluebird hopped onto the window and warbled a cheery song.   Remus smiled as the tiny bird pecked at the half coconut floating just above the window ledge.  His mother had Charmed it there for him a few weeks ago, to bring the birds for him to watch.  This particular bird had one crooked leg, like it had been broken before and not quite healed properly, giving it a lopsided appearance.  It had become something of a pet.  Remus had named it Pogo, unsure if it was male or female, but it came nearly every morning to be fed.  Once, Remus had managed to coax the little bird onto his hand with some seeds.

The bluebird hopped off the coconut and fluttered away, its piping song almost urging Remus to get up.  Obligingly, Remus sat up and pushed the heavy quilt off.  He still felt unwell; his stomach was churning a little but it was nowhere near as bad as yesterday.  Deciding some food might help, he went downstairs still in his pyjamas.  When he entered the kitchen, the first thing he noticed was his parents seated at the table, both looking grave and tired.  Two mugs of steaming coffee stood before them, along with a lot of parchment strewn across the table.

They both looked up as he came in.

'Remus, what are you doing up?' asked his mother, hurriedly getting to her feet.

'I'm hungry,' he said.  'Can I have some toast?'

His mother beamed with relief.

'Of course you can, darling, sit down, I'll make some for you.'

Remus took a seat while his mother went to the fireplace, and used her wand to levitate some slices of bread over the flames.

'How do you feel?' asked Julian.

Remus considered.

'Tired,' he admitted, 'and my head hurts.'

'Well, when you've had breakfast you should go back to bed,' said Diane, summoning a plate to her and flipping the toast out of the fire.  'You still look very pale.  Did you sleep all right?'

Remus nodded and reached for the marmalade.  His mother had only just put the plate of toast in front of him when Remus swayed in his seat and clutched his stomach.

'Remus?  What's wrong?'

'Di, he's going to be sick!'  Julian leapt up and waved his wand.  A bowl shot across the room, skidding to a halt in front of Remus just in time.  There was a wet splat followed by the nasty stench of vomit.  Remus coughed violently several times before sinking back into his chair.  He felt awful, and the smell was making him feel worse.  It wasn't long before his mother was tucking him back up in bed, with another empty bowl on the floor next to him.

'You shouldn't have got up if you didn't feel well,' she said firmly, the tension showing in her face.

'But I felt okay,' Remus mumbled in protest.  He was still rather pale.

'Your dad's brewing a potion to help settle your stomach, he won't be long.'

About ten minutes later, Julian arrived with a goblet of a mint-scented potion.  Remus took a few sips but couldn't manage much more.  Lying back down, he curled up on his side and closed his eyes.

'Try to get some sleep,' said Diane.  'I'll come back in a little while.'

Remus mumbled something incoherent, and then stilled.  When his breathing fell into a slow, steady rhythm, Diane and Julian left the room.

For the next few hours, they took turns to go and check on him.  Most of the time Remus was fast asleep.  He only threw up once and by late evening, Diane cooked some broth for him to drink in the hopes that it wouldn't upset his stomach. 

By the following morning, Remus was feeling and looking a lot better, though his mother insisted that he not eat too much.  After some orange juice and a slice of toast, Remus ventured out of bed and spent most of the day in the living room on the sofa with his mother while she did some needlework on a robe of Julian's.  Julian had returned to work that morning.

Remus attended a local Muggle primary school in the village, partly due to Diane's wish that Remus learn that Muggles were no different to wizarding children. She did not want him instilled with the same prejudice some members of the community held against non-magic people.  A lot of wizarding families did the same, and despite the risk of magical children performing accidental magic in front of Muggles, it was rarely harmful and often explained away by the Muggles themselves, for they refused to believe in such things.  So far, the worst thing Remus had done was to levitate the class rabbit when it tried to escape from the classroom.  The teacher had been very shocked, but later assumed that the rabbit had simply made a very large jump over the desks.

There were several wizarding families in the area that met up on a regular basis, allowing their children to play and learn a little bit about magic, in particular how important it was never to tell the Muggles what they were.  Not all the children paid attention, however.  There were more than a few Muggles wandering around Sedbergh with Memory Charms on them.

The headmistress had accepted Remus' absence of the past few days as a nasty bout of flu when Diane went over to inform her that Remus would not likely be back for a while.

'It came on very suddenly,' she said to an understanding Mrs. Spencer, 'but I hope he'll feel better by next week.'

'Of course,' said Mrs. Spencer.  'Well, I hope he gets better soon, Mrs Lupin, the new term will start soon.  It'll be a shame if he misses it.'

Diane agreed. Luckily, the half term holiday had begun and Remus had only missed a few days of school, but the question remained.  Was Remus going to be okay?  Was there any change he could get better?  After everything the Healers had told them after they'd arrived at the hospital, the future was looking very bleak.  It was so hard to comprehend, Diane thought as she watched Remus sitting quietly and flipping through the pages of a book, that he was something different … that there was something in his blood, in every living cell of his body, that had contaminated him forever.

Diane shuddered.

Forever.

'I'm sorry, madam, but there is no cure.  There's nothing we can do for him.  He's alive and he should pull through, but he has been infected … it's incurable …'

'Mum?'

'What?' Diane jerked out of her reverie and stared at Remus.

'Are you okay?'

'What?  Oh, of course I am.  Why?'

Remus hesitated, like he wasn't sure if he ought to answer.

'You looked upset,' he said quietly.

'Oh … well, I just thinking.'

'What about?'

Diane sighed and put her needlework down. 

'Remus, I'm just a little worried about you … that's all.'

'But I'm okay now,' said Remus, his brow furrowed.  'That mark is going away and I feel better.'  He didn't understand why his mother couldn't comprehend it.

'Yes, I know and I'm glad it's fading, but …' she trailed off.  What am I supposed to say, she wondered in despair.  How was she meant to explain it to him?  And when?

'It's nothing,' she said, finally.

Remus didn't say anything.  He went quietly back to his book.  He sensed there was something more, but decided to leave it.

 -o-

'Mum, can I go outside and play?'

Remus looked hopefully at his mother across the breakfast table.  Diane exchanged an apprehensive glance with her husband.

'I don't know, Remus, how are you feeling today?'

'Loads better,' he insisted.  'Please?  I'm bored being inside all the time.'

It was only his third day back home and Remus was still looking a bit peaky in Diane's opinion.  But at the pleading gaze he gave her, she reconciled, if somewhat reluctantly.

'Well … if you're sure-'

'Thanks, Mum!'

In a flash, Remus was off.  From the hallway Remus shouted, 'I'll be in the park!' The front door banged shut a few moments later.

Anxiously, Diane turned to Julian.

'Julian, do you think it's okay for him to go out?  I mean, he still doesn't look well.'

'Di, if he feels all right, I think it's best for him to get some fresh air,' he said patiently.  'Besides, see how fast he went?  He's fine!  There's nothing wrong with him.'

Diane frowned.  Was it her imagination or was that last statement just a bit too forceful?  They looked at each other, then, each turned back to their breakfast.

'I hope you're right,' Diane muttered under her breath.

 -o-

Finally freed of the house, Remus eagerly ran down the garden path and through the gate.  The warm sun and blue skies had been far too enticing to ignore.  Pogo had come to the window again that morning, apparently taking great pleasure in taunting him, fluttering away and back again, like the bird knew how much Remus wanted to go outside.   He'd been worried for a moment that his mother would say no.  She'd been acting strangely ever since they'd come back from the hospital.  Remus had loved the attention while he'd been sick, but now he felt better and desperate to get out to play once more.

With that thought in mind, he headed for the play park.

The play park was only a few streets away, and was composed of a large open field with a climbing frame, slide, roundabout and swing set at one end.  The village children gathered there every afternoon after school and every weekend to play around.  The Muggle children often brought a black and white ball that they would kick around.  It wasn't as much fun as Quidditch, but Remus enjoyed running around after it with the others.  His father had to take him out into the countryside for them to play Quidditch so they wouldn't be seen.  Remus had always thought it was a shame that Muggles couldn't play Quidditch; he had several friends among the Muggle children who he was sure would have loved it.

Rounding a corner, Remus smiled as the play park came into sight.  As expected, several children were already there.  Two girls were competing on the swings, trying to swing higher than each other.  Others were jostling for a turn on the slide, or clambering over the climbing frame, hanging upside down or holding on with one hand like monkeys for as long as they could.  A few children were kicking a ball to each other on the open field.

Remus recognised one of the boys and ran across the road towards him.

'Luke!' he shouted, waving.  'Hey, Luke!'

The sandy-haired boy faltered and turned.  He didn't call back.  He just stood there as Remus came onto the field, unsure of what to do or say.

'Hi,' Remus said brightly as he reached him.

Luke didn't answer right away.  Flustered, his eyes darting about nervously, Luke mumbled a hello.

'Can I join in?' said Remus.  His less-than-enthusiastic greeting did little to deter him.  But when Luke wouldn't meet his eyes and took a step back, Remus suddenly became aware that everyone else in the park had stopped playing and were all staring at him.  Then, a voice called from over by the climbing frame.

'So, you're back?'

Remus turned.  Tyler Herald dropped down from the climbing frame, along with a few other boys about his age.  At first, Remus wasn't sure why the teenagers were even there.  Then he realised it must be a holiday for them as well; they'd come back from boarding school.

Tyler strode over to him, a most peculiar expression twisting his face.  Luke, and several of the other children, backed away nervously.  It was mainly the older Muggle children that stayed where they were, watching with a mixture of curiosity, and ill-disguised expectation.

'When did you get back?' said Tyler.

'Few days ago,' said Remus. 

He glanced over his shoulder. There was something very wrong about the way the other children were staring at him.  Tyler and his friends fanned out, forming a loose semi-circle around Remus.  Cautiously, but not overly afraid, Remus backed up.

'You shouldn't have come back,' said Tyler menacingly, advancing on him.  'Everyone knows what you are.'

'What?  I'm not anything,' Remus protested, his voice quivering.  What was going on?

'You better run, you know,' said another boy, not as tall as Tyler, but just as mean.  'Before they start coming after you.'

Remus stared blankly at them.

'Who?  Why? I don't -'

Suddenly, a small stone came flying out of nowhere and struck Remus across his forehead.  Yelping in surprise more than pain, Remus stumbled backwards and clapped a hand over his brow.  Panting, Remus lowered his hand and stared at the smear of blood on his palm.

'Freak!' yelled a boy near the slide.  Remus stared.  It was Edward, and he was glaring at Remus with such a loathsome look, he was almost unrecognisable.  Stunned, Remus' attention snapped back to Tyler as the teenager took another step closer and put his face closer to his.

'You're cursed,' he hissed.

'Cursed!  Cursed!' chanted several girls, moving closer as they did so.  The chant was taking up swiftly by the rest of the group.

'Cursed! Cursed! Cursed! Cursed!'

They were closing in on him.  Remus spun round, eyes wide.  Another stone was thrown, but he saw it coming and dodged it.

'Stop it!' he shouted.  But no one heard him above the chanting.

'You're a freak!' someone shouted through the noise.

'No!  Stop it! Don't!' 

When another stone narrowly missed his head, Remus spun on his heel and bolted.  He expected someone to stop him, but a number of people squealed and screamed, leaping out of his way.  Darting past them, Remus ran for it.

'Get him!' yelled Tyler.

Panicked, Remus ran as fast as he could back down the street.  Feet pounding on the path and his breath coming in short, painful gasps, Remus barely noticed how fast he was going.  He could hear the mob behind him, and as he rounded a corner onto Thistledown Avenue, he risked a glance over his shoulder.  Not all the children had followed, and most of them had fallen behind.  Only the teenagers were keeping up, Tyler in the lead.

'He's getting away!' he shouted, spurring them on.

Getting caught was not a pleasant prospect.  Remus had no idea why he was suddenly the object of such scorn, but now was clearly not the time for explanations.  His lungs were aching, but every step brought him closer to home, and safety.  Keeping his head down, Remus forced himself to run faster, the ground a hazy blur beneath him.

Pelting across the road, Remus didn't see the stick until his foot caught it.  He pitched forward and scrawled painfully on the pavement.  Heavy footsteps came racing round the corner a split second later.

'There he is!'

'Get him!'

Remus scrambled to his feet just as Tyler reached him.  The teenager lunged and seized Remus roughly by his shirt. 

'Let go!' Remus yelled, and shoved Tyler as hard as he could.

He hadn't expected a small push to have much of an affect on the older boy, but almost immediately Tyler let go, leaping back like he was on fire, shouting, 'It touched me!  The thing touched me!'

The rest of the boys drew up short, keeping their distance.  None of them seemed keen on coming any closer.

Bewildered, Remus stood rooted to the spot.  Tyler threw him a look of pure venom.

'I'm going to get you for that …'

'What did I do?' Remus cried.  'I didn't do anything!'

'Not yet,' called a girl, spitefully.  'My dad told me we're not go near you.  You're cursed!'

'Yeah, should have let the monster eat you!'

'He's a freak, that's what he is!'

'Ah, look, wolf-boy's crying!'

'Is the ickle monster fwightened?' Tyler taunted him.  He made as though to lunge once more, and when Remus jumped back, Tyler stopped and laughed loudly.  'See!' he shouted to the population at large.  'He's not so scary!'

Tears rolling down his cheeks, Remus' head was spinning.  The other children had caught up and were slowly edging closer, many of them with stones in their fists, Edward among them.  Even Luke was hovering behind the rest of them, watching apprehensively … fearfully.  More than anything, Remus wanted to shout out, to ask Luke what in Merlin's name was going on, when another figure came hurrying towards them.

The crowd of children drew back as a tall woman with thick blond hair came into their midst and grabbed the arm of a young boy.

'Daniel, get away from it!' she shrieked, pulling the boy behind her.  She glared at Remus, a hideous expression twisting her face, like she wanted to spit at him.  'You stay away from my son!' she hissed.

'Remus!'

At the sound of his mother's voice, Remus' heart gave a leap.  His mother was running down the garden path.  She flung open the gate and came swiftly over the road.  As she reached her son, Diane flung her arms around him in a brief hug, before drawing him behind her and glaring in equal distaste at the other woman.

'You keep that filthy little beast away from my kids!' the woman screeched, shielding Daniel with her body.

'Don't call him that, Edna!' Diane yelled back, angry tears threatening to fall from her eyes.  'Didn't you see what they were doing to him?' 

She gestured to the children that had lingered after most had fled at the sight of a grown-up.  Most of them had backed away, but all were eyeing Remus with nothing short of loathing and fear.  Remus cowered behind her, whimpering and clutching her arm.

'What I saw,' Edna spat at her, 'was that feral creature attacking them!  That's right!  Lunged for that lad over there!'

'Yeah!' Tyler called out.  He was trying to make a show of looking scared, but the effect was hindered somewhat by the malicious grin contorting his features.  Not that Edna or the other children noticed.  'It tried to bite me!  Little monster should be locked up!'

There were cries of agreement from the group.  Edna lifted her head, smugly.  Diane stared in horror and avid disbelief.

'Remus did no such thing!  I saw it all from my bedroom window – those kids were after him like a pack of -'

'Wolves?' suggested Edna.  'No less than he deserves! The kids have the right idea.  You should never have brought him back here, Diane.  He's not welcome here.' 

The witch caught Remus' gaze.  The frightened child shivered as her pale eyes locked onto his own.

'You'd better get out this village,' she said, speaking to Diane but not taking her eyes off Remus, 'and take that feral beast with you … before someone take matters into their own hands.'

'Is that a threat?' Diane demanded, angrily.

'It's the truth,' said Edna coldly.  Pulling her own son with her, she swept away.

Glaring after her and shaking with fear and anger, Diane hardly noticed that the crowd of children was still there.  When she remembered, she turned to them and shouted, 'Go on!  Get out of here!  You've had your fun, now go!'

Most of the youngsters scattered.  The older ones laughed derisively, before slowly making their way back up the road.  Tyler was the last to leave.  When Remus risked another look round his mother, Tyler stared directly at him, and mouthed something at him, drawing his finger swiftly across his throat.  Then, he too, headed back towards the park with the others.

Breathing heavily through her nose, Diane turned and grabbed Remus' hand.

'Come on, let's get you inside, quick.'

Sniffing, Remus nodded and staggered with her back to their cottage.  Slamming the front door shut behind them, Diane pulled her wand out of her pocket and waved it over the lock.  It clicked loudly, and a number of blue sparks shot out of the keyhole.  Muttering something under her breath, Diane lifted the letter-slot and aimed her wand at the front gate.

'That should stop them coming to the door,' she said, her voice trembling.  Angry and scared, she slumped against the door and buried her face in her hands.  Letting out a ragged breath, she made the effort to pull herself together.  Remus stood awkwardly in the doorway to the living room, unsure and deeply confused.

'Come on,' whispered Diane.  Taking his hand, she led Remus into the kitchen.

When Remus was seated, Diane conjured a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth.  Very gently, she dabbed at the swelling on his forehead.  Wincing, Remus let out a hiss of pain.

'Sorry,' whispered Diane.  'Here, put your hands in this.'

She waved her wand and summoned a bottle from the shelf.  It poured a yellowish liquid into the water and steam began to rise from the bowl.  Remus slowly submerged his hands and felt the pain from his scraped hands ease almost immediately.  Casting another spell, Diane touched her wand to his head to relieve the swelling.

Julian entered the room a few minutes later.  He stopped and stared at his wife tenderly drying off Remus' hands, both of them shaken and upset.

'What happened?' he asked.

Diane's head snapped round.

'I'll tell you what's happened,' she croaked.  'Remus wasn't outside ten minutes before the local brat pack attacked him!'

Julian blanched.

'What!'

'They know, Julian, the whole village knows!'

'But … how …'

'Oh, how could they not know?' Diane took Remus' chin and turned his head so that his father could see the wound on his head.  'Look at that!  Nothing wrong with him, you said!  He's fine, nothing wrong with him going outside!  It's not like every witch and wizard in Sedbergh wasn't at that stupid party!  I just had to stop Edna Ramset from attacking him!'

'That old bat across the road?' cried Julian.  Diane nodded, rubbing her eyes.

'She threatened us – said we ought to get out before someone makes us.'

Furiously, Julian whipped out his wand. 

'Right, I'm going over there -'

'To do what?  If you hex her, it'll just give the rest of them another reason to harm Remus!'

'We've got to do something, Di!'

'Yes, but not by making things worse!'

'How could they be any worse?' yelled Julian.  He stormed back over to them, slamming his wand down on the table and making the bowl of water slosh over the tablecloth.  Remus jumped and stared fearfully up at his father.  'We didn't ask for this to happen!'

'But, Julian, we can't just pretend it hasn't happened!'

'Then what do you propose we do about it?'

'I don't know!'

Turning on his heel, Julian paced round the room, his feet stomping heavily on the wooden floor.  Diane slumped in her chair, her hand over her mouth.  A stony silence descended, broken only by Julian's restless pacing and Diane's ragged sobs.

Remus finally found his voice.

'What's wrong with me, mum?' he asked softly, tears stinging his eyes.

Diane looked sharply at him, as did Julian.

'Something's wrong with me, isn't there?'  Remus knew by their faces it was true.

'We have to tell him,' said Diane weakly, not taking her eyes off her son, his own searching her face for any clue as to the reason.  Julian nodded robotically.  Slowly, he came over and took a seat beside his son.

'Remus,' said Diane, taking both his sore hands in hers, 'do you remember the wolf that hurt you?'

'Yes,' said Remus, his voice shaking.  It didn't seem likely he'd ever forget it.

Diane took a deep breath, but it failed to keep her voice steady.

'Well … when it … when it bit you … something bad happened to you …' she said.  Struggling to find the words, she turned helplessly to her husband.

'Something nasty got into your blood,' he said as gently as he could.  Remus sat in silence, listening carefully.  He understood so far.

'It's called … lycanthropy,' said Diane, nearly choking on the word.  Tears ran unhindered down her cheeks.  'It's a very bad disease.'  She stopped, unable to continue.

'Ly-can-thro-py?' repeated Remus uncertainly.  'I got it from the wolf?'

Julian nodded.

'That wolf was a werewolf,' he said, slowly.  'Do you know what they are?'

'Monsters,' said Remus at once.  'It scared me.'

Again, Julian nodded.  He was growing very pale and seemed to be fighting back tears.

'That's … that's true,' he admitted very reluctantly.  Diane sobbed loudly.  'But they're more than that.  They are people … who can become wolves.'

Remus blinked.  No one had ever mentioned that to him before; he'd always thought they were monsters and nothing more.  It was what he'd heard from one of the older wizards in the village.

'A werewolf is a human most of the time … it only becomes a wolf at night, when there's a full moon in the sky.'

'There was a full moon,' Remus agreed.  'I remember seeing it.'

Julian swallowed hard.

'Werewolves are also know as lycanthropes,' he added, forcing each word out like it was causing him great pain, 'and they make others like them by biting them.'

Remus was silent.  When Julian turned to look down at his son, he was met by a petrified stare of bleak understanding.  Diane was crying, sniffing into a handkerchief, her eyes red and puffy.

'The wolf bit me,' said Remus, faintly.  'It bit me!'

'Yes, it did,' said Julian, trying not to allow Remus to get too panicked, but failing rapidly, 'and now you have lycanthropy.'

'Why didn't the Healers do something?' Remus cried.

'They can't,' sobbed Diane, lowering her soggy handkerchief.  'There isn't a cure for it.' 

She was trembling and couldn't carry on.

Blankly, Remus gazed at his mother.  Then he remembered the reaction of the children in the park.

'They said I was cursed,' he said, quivering.  'They called me a – a beast.'

'I know, sweetheart.'

Wrapping her arms around him, Diane held Remus close.  He was shaking uncontrollably.

'Am I gonna be a wolf too?' he croaked, a few minutes later.

His parents didn't answer straight away.

'Yes,' said Diane, softly.  Remus cried harder.

'But – I don't want to!  It hurt me!  I don't want to be a monster!'

'You aren't a monster!' Diane pulled him away from her shoulder and made him look at her.  'Never believe anyone who says such things!  They aren't true.  You are still our little boy and we love you very much – being something different is never going to change that, all right?'

Remus sniffed in reply.  Tears streaming down his cheeks, he said quietly, 'But I don't want to be different.  They said I was cursed.'

'Sometimes it is called a curse,' said Julian.  Diane threw him a look.

'Don't tell him that,' she snapped.

'He ought to know, shouldn't he?  If he's going to understand, he needs to know.'  Turning back to Remus, he added tentatively, 'Look, I know this is hard for you to understand, Remus, but a lot of wizards are scared of werewolves, like you were when you saw the wolf before, remember?  They're scared because they don't know much about lycanthropy … and neither do we.  There wasn't much the Healers could tell us.'

But Remus had stopped listening.  All he could hear was the harsh taunts of the other children, their voices ringing in his ears as though they were in the room with him.  Their faces twisted with malice and righteous accusation.  Children who had been playmates mere days before had changed beyond all recognition.  Luke, not capable of even looking him in the eye, and Edward … the cut from the stone was still stinging, but not as much as the words that had followed.  Freak … monster … it – like he wasn't even human anymore …

Remus felt dirty and defiled.  Self-consciously, his hand went to his chest.  The huge scar seemed to burn like fire beneath his touch.  It was fading fast, but the wound was much more than a physical mark, one that was never going to heal.

His arms tightened round his mother's neck, and he buried his face into her shoulder, fighting against the howl of misery trying to break free.   Feeling as though her heart were breaking, Diane rubbed his back and rocked him back forth, like she'd done when Remus had been small.  Julian, unaccustomed to dealing with outbursts of such raw emotion, hung back awkwardly, lost in his own thoughts, before moving over to sit beside them, embracing his wife in an effort to calm her, as she tried to do the same for Remus.

But for all their efforts, Remus did not feel any better.  His eyes sore from crying so much, he finally whispered, 'I don't want to be different.'

 -o-

To Be Continued …

 -o-

Please leave a review. All comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

 -o-

Author's Notes.

Luna Moonglade – Thank you very much, it's really nice of you to say that you think I'm a good writer – it's mostly down to a lot of practise and having a wonderful Beta reader to help me out.  It's good that you know where your own weak points are; the best advice I can give on that is for you to read lots of different books by different people.  You'll pick up on new words and interesting ways of phrasing things.  I also use a thesaurus a lot to stop using the same words over and over.  I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far.  Hope to hear from you again.

Aerlalaith – Yes, you will see some of the places where Remus was kept during the full moons.   I'm concentrating a lot on his life prior to Hogwarts rather than send him off to school by chapter five.  I've read so many fics that jump from 'the bite' straight to his first day at Hogwarts within two or three chapters, and it made me want to show a more of what his life was like during his first few years as a werewolf.    Hope you liked the chapter.