Lesson Four: Gallows Humor
The next few days the boys spent their time much in the same way as they had their first day together at Lupin Lodge. Their days consisted of gallivanting through the woods, playing games, and of treasure hunting and fighting gigantic beasts that were familiar to them in their world. Remus, one day towards the middle of the week, even opted to teach Sirius how to fish... a challenge in itself, but once he had gotten the hang of it he had found that it was actually rather enjoyable. At night they would sit up late into the night having in-depth conversations ranging from anything about their last year at school, to why a fart shows that God has a sense of humor.
During these late night discussions Remus found out a few of the reasons why his friends had neglected to write him as often as he had wanted them to. Unfortunately, no one had heard from Peter yet and Sirius had just assumed that he was with his family. Something they had all found out, after last Christmas, that he was rather comfortable with. Even though Peter became the mystery to which neither of them had any answers to, Sirius did have much to say about James' condition from the last few letters he had received from his mate. Apparently, as it turned out, James was busying himself in Washington DC because his father was doing business with the Secretary of Magic. James, though, did not seem too pleased with his new surroundings as he told, in his last letter to Sirius, that everyone dressed very professionally, both muggle and non, and they were all straight faced and serious. "It's a nightmare, honestly... but they do have a cool joke shop." He had stated openly concerning the difference between the UK and America's wizarding worlds.
Remus had laughed at this, oh the terrible tragedies of being the Minister of Magic's son! This was a fact that Remus had not even connected with James until sometime in the middle of last term. He had felt rather odd about not realizing this sooner, so he had never said anything about it to his friends. It was just another thing Remus could chalk up and blame on his lycanthropy which, more than not, left him out of the loop when regarding such things as that.
Aside from these long late night debates between the two boys were also the short-lived expeditions in the woods by day. Sirius and Remus had gone out the first few days exploring a different section of the Lupin's land each day. They would only come back to the house for meals where Gwen always had something nice prepared for them whether that was sandwiches or a full course meal at dinner. Eventually, though, after the third day Kara began to complain openly about being left alone in the house with only her aunt for company. In the end, her nagging had gotten to Remus, as it always did, and he had let her come along. Surprisingly enough, she provided a vivid storyline to go along with their explorations of the woods. These stories included hunting wild hippogriffs, which Remus knew was a very unlikely thing to do but it did make for good fun. Or another story she'd created was that they would go searching high and low for beings most people either do not, or cannot see in the wild, like Thestrals. By the end of that first day with her, both boys, who had both protested openly her hanging out with them, had concluded that she wasn't entirely worthless. In fact she was rather bright and cool to spend time with. All of these things Remus had known before, but he despised her for them just as much as he loved her for them. For these qualities, tagged along with her ability to get to him with her nagging, were the reasons that by the end of the week Remus' health had begun to deteriorate in the wake of the full moon.
On the last day of that week Remus had stayed inside as he slowly began to grow a fever, eventually, he began to sweat and grow pale as the day dragged on. Remus was thankful that Sirius had not abandoned him during this time, so that he could go and play with Kara, who had left the house as soon as Remus had come down the stairs that morning. He was not mad at her for that action, though, because it was the only way she ever showed any pity for his condition. He knew deep down, that she had left because she felt horrible about the events that were to follow that evening. She knew as well as he did, that it was her fault and he could not bring himself to hate her while she was suffering over him.
Sirius though, did not agree with Remus' view on his cousin's behavior. He thought it was not only rude but also unkind. As he had put it, it was a very "Black" thing of her to do. Remus had tried to explain to him why it was not an unkind thing for her to do, but a very nice thing, because he did not want to see her pity. He didn't know how he would react to it at all. Sirius had only sighed at this and made a quick joke, a gallows humor that seemed to sum up Remus' life up until that moment in time.
This was the system for the rest of the day until Edmund Lupin came home from work a little after five and looked at his son with soft caring eyes. Remus smiled weakly at his father, knowing what was coming, and he hoisted himself up from the couch so that he was now sitting upright. The effort of this simple motion sent pain searing down his spine as sweat trickled down his forehead. He felt as if he were either going to faint or die, whatever happened to come first, under the pressure of his above normal fever. Sirius had patted Remus gently on his back while he waited for the little black dots to stop flickering before his eyes. When they had stopped he got up off of the couch, knowing fully what now needed to be done.
Both Sirius and Remus' father had helped him up from his position on the couch and slowly but surely they made their way out to the shed. Before the three of them had made it outside, Remus' mother had kissed him softly on his forehead with tears clinging in her soft gray eyes. Remus' eyes had become moist when he'd seen his mother's tear- stained face but quickly feigned that he was alright, and gently kissed her on her cheek. Then they slowly continued the gallant death march to the shed. When they had reached halfway, a walk that takes nearly a minute had already exceeded that time limit, he noticed a little grey owl swoop down from its' perch on the shed, and he immediately noticed that it belonged to James. The little bird flew down upon his shoulder and Remus took the time to retrieve the letter from the little beings leg. He opened the rolled piece of parchment and slowly read the few words that had been written on it. "I love you, mate." Had been laid out before him in the unruly handwriting that was James' signature scrawl. And immediately Remus felt hot tears roll down his cheeks as he stared at the words written. He wiped them away quickly before Sirius could make any form of a comment, even though, deep down, he knew no such comment would be made. His father just patted him on his back just before he walked over to the shed and opened the heavy wooden door and stepped inside, leaving the door open. Remus stopped leaning against Sirius, and made the remainder of the journey to the shed by himself. He stepped inside of the shed and gave Sirius a quick glance telling his best friend, at that moment, that he did not want him to see this. Sirius nodded slightly understanding his friend's needs, withdrew the one step he had taken towards the shed, and stayed outside of the shed as the door swung shut with a large 'thud,' leaving Remus in the dark shack.
Remus turned to face his father as the man grabbed one of the large chains hanging up on the wall, along with assorted others, all of different makes and designs. Remus moved over to the corner where there were assorted clasps hanging on the wall. His father then, chained him to the wall. This was the only time Remus ever saw his father cry. Every month since he was five they had done this routine, and every month it grew no easier for the young boy to see these particular tears. Remus felt a fresh wave of tears, as his father finished up his futile attempts to chain his son, and looked up into his blue eyes. As the first few tears fell from Remus' eyes he found himself mutter. "It's okay, I'll be alright." His voice cracked under the weight of these words. His father only sobbed openly when Remus had said this, and then finally hugged Remus, chains and all, and then resigned himself from the shed.
Remus was then left alone. The dark shed was his haven and the chains that were meant to protect him from himself became his only comfort for the night. The sun set behind the trees slowly, as it always did on these nights as he awaited his imminent fate. When darkness finally fell over the quiet countryside the pain of the transformation began to grip his body. His brow began to sweat profusely and he felt his bones begin to mold into another being much unlike himself. The pain this caused was unbearable, and on a good night he would pass out; this was not a good night.
Remus screamed in pain as his body changed form and his consciousness mind began to leave. As his back was forced to hunch over in the chains Remus gripped the note from James that was still in his hands and he began to cry openly wishing that this pain could be passed onto someone else. As the hair began to grow and his face began to contort into a muzzle he gave one final cry for his mother as it died into the sounds of a howl.
Once all the hair had grown and his appearance was no longer human, the former Remus J. Lupin began to bite and gnaw at the chains that bound him. After much determination the clasps against the wall were ripped off of the ancient wood they were attached to and the chains fell to the floor. The beast was loose. Frustrated by its confines it began to claw at the door with its razor sharp claws. It knew there were people out there. Yet, the door was too strong and the werewolf's body was too weak, in its' young age, to break through, so it opted to take its frustration out on itself.
Attacking the human within.
Every bite or scratch caused immense pain in the monster, yet it would not stop, as each swipe caused a whimper to escape from its muzzle. Then, finally, after most of the flesh had been destroyed and the pain had become too great, Remus J. Lupin's traitorous body was merciful and passed out.
Inside the house, merely yards away from the shed, they heard Remus' transformation. The family sat in the confines of the small cabin as the fireplace cracked as the bark was consumed by the blistering flames. Every member of the house sat in silence and listened to all of Remus' cries of pain and pleads for comfort from the outside world. Until, finally, the cries ceased to sound human at all.
Sirius watched each person he had grown very close to over the last week sit in silence. He did not speak or crack a joke to ease the silence knowing that it would fall upon deaf ears, and not only that but it was a most unwelcome gesture to anyone there including himself. He sighed deeply as he intently watched Gwen, the loving mother that she was, begin to cry again before she muttered a prayer for her son into the berth of the room and retired to her room still crying silently. Shortly after she had left, Edmund followed her into their bedroom and Sirius could hear him comforting his wife to the best of his abilities; the soft sounds of his voice cooing gently at his wife until her cries became no longer audible. Eventually, after the sounds had died within the master bedroom, Sirius' attention dwindled and finally was brought to the youngest member of the Lupin family.
He could still hear Remus in the outer regions of his mind, and now from the sound of it, he appeared to be beating up against the door. Sirius felt the sting of tears in his eyes, that he was too stubborn to let fall, even for his friend. But, in the end, he failed at that task and slowly a tear escaped from his eyes as one final 'thud' resounded from the shack and then all was silent for the time being. He heard Kara laugh slightly from beside him, and he turned to her and wiped the fallen tear away from his face. She did not move from her position in the chair next to him, as he stared blankly at her unable to understand her sudden outburst as the sounds of an injured animal began to seep through the doors tainting the eerie silence that had settled over the house. All the while the girl just continued to jot things down in her little black notebook, as if she had made no sound at all.
"You're cruel." Sirius muttered unable to hold his thoughts inside. Kara just looked up at him and blinked a bit, before she finally opened her mouth to retort.
"Cruel. I'm hardly cruel. You don't know what we've been through so you can't judge me."
"You laughed." Sirius said blankly, finding that to be a fairly strange response.
"Because it's funny. Every month he rips himself apart, along with all of us crying over him in our own ways." She said with an emphasis on the last few words she spoke. Kara sighed and shut her little book, her eyes were now sad and her face had gone all pouty. "I've already done my bit of crying for today and I'm tired of being sad." She took a deep breath and looked away from Sirius as she continued her rant unnecessarily. "I don't want him to hate me, but he does, and I don't blame him. But to say I'm cruel is pushing the line, Black. You don't know me, so bugger off." With that final bit, she bounded out of the room and Sirius was sure that she might have been crying as she retreated down the hallway to her own bedroom. Sirius simply turned away from the direction she had left in and looked dismally at the dancing flames as the werewolf outside gave out an ear-piercing cry and then everything fell into complete silence.
Now that he was alone he felt himself cry openly over his friend and his family. Kara was right, he did not know anything about their family but it was the way she had said it that had made him think that perhaps, the reason she was living with the Lupin's was something beyond anyone's control. A tragedy to add to the families suffering and a cause for her to retaliate like an injured animal to his simple observation. He knew the reaction all too well, he'd done it himself on some occasions, as rare as they were, but his victim was typically James.
He sighed bitterly and wiped the tears away from his eyes taking the time to stare at the shack in the distance hoping for some sign of life within it. He soon found that there was nothing of the sort. He then went up to Remus' room to sleep for the night. He noticed instantly, that it seemed so big and empty without his friend, and as he climbed into the cot that had been his bed for the last week, he hoped beyond all hope that Remus would be okay and that the rest of the family would recover as well.