A/N: I'm sorry this is coming along so slowly. I really am, but I have the next chapter figured out...I'm just not sure when I'll finish it...I hope you enjoy this though!

Chapter 12

Remus closed his eyes as the sun started to sink into the ground. His heart rate sped up and his breathing became more rapid. It happened every time but he could never get use to it. The pain and the suffering scared him. He should be use to it, but he wasn't. He was never going to be. Every month of every year of his whole life he would have to go through it. And every month for the next seven years, excluding summer months, he would have to make some excuse as to the reason why he was leaving.

He had never had to go through this before. He's never had to lie to people. Remus wasn't a liar he was honest and truthful. Life was so much more complicated when you have friends.

"Tim! Timmy look! Candy! Free candy!"

Remus opened his eyes and got up from his seat on the couch. He peaked out between the boards on the window and saw a little kid by the gate, picking candy out of the bag. Remus smiled. His prank was working perfectly. What kid could resist a haunted house on Halloween?

Another small kid came up the path, lugging two bags.

"Come on John, it's getting dark and you know what they say," the little kid who was assumed to be Timmy said, throwing one of the bags next to whom Remus guessed was John. "And you can carry your own bag this time."

"What do they say Timmy?" John said sarcastically, as if he's heard this story hundreds of times.

"When the sun sinks down and the moon rises, the ghosts come out and haunt the house. They live there, you know? When they see little kids, they swoop down and eat them all up. Their parents never hear from them again," Timmy said, obvious to his friend's sarcasm. "And it's a full moon which means they're even hungrier. Come on John, let's go!"

"Timmy, stop being such a 'frady cat. If the ghosts were hungry, they'd go for the yummy candy and not us nasty kids," John said, sticking the candy from his hands and into his bag.

"Please, let's just go," Timmy whined. "Look, the sun is down and the moon is starting to come up. Can we please just go back down the hill and get candy from other people?"

"Fine, we'll go back down, but not before I get one last piece for the road," John reluctantly said, reaching into the bag.

"You don't know where that's been," Timmy whined, tugging on John's shirt.

"Relax Timmy, its just candy. What's the worse that could happen?" John shrugged. Popping the candy in his mouth, John picked up his bag and started to walk down the path towards the village.

"Don't blame me when you get sick and die," Timmy said, his voice becoming fainter as he walked down the hill.

When he could hear their voices no more, Remus burst out laughing. Little kids were so easy to trick. His only regret was that he couldn't see John when he turned green. His mom would probably rush him straight to St. Mungo's and then ground him immediately after. Of course, then Timmy would have the right to say 'I told you so'.

When Remus was done laughing, he suddenly noticed the edge of the moon rising up from the ground. Remus groaned as he backed away from the window.

Remus' hand met with the sofa and he tightened his grip on it until his knuckles turned white. Moonlight started to shine through the boarded windows as Remus fell to the ground. He clenched his teeth together as hard as he could to keep from screaming. It was Halloween, hearing the wails of a werewolf would only scare the villagers more. It was Halloween; they should have fun, not be scared for their lives.

As Remus kept his teeth clenched, his arm fell off the couch and on to the ground as hair started to grow. His teeth started to push into his gums as they grew longer and sharper. His hair grew all over his body, paws formed, and his nose grew. Remus couldn't hold it any longer; he let out a long, pain-filled yell that transformed into a howl.

As suddenly as it began, the transformation ended. Remus opened his eyes and stared at the black and white room. His ears flinched as the sound of shrieks and yells drifted up towards him. He growled when the noises didn't stop and seemed to be coming nearer.

Remus walked over to the door and stood close to it and the voices came nearer. A loud shriek suddenly made Remus jump back.

"Robbie!" a high-pitched voice shrieked. "Don't push me! I don't want to go anywhere near that haunted house!"

"Come on Kris, it's just a story. That house isn't haunted. They just make up that story so that kids don't go up there to have fun without parents watching over them. It isn't haunted," a male voice said.

Remus' growl turned into a howl as the sounds of breaking twigs and crunching leaves filled his ears. This was his territory, no one shall pass.

"Jesus, that place is haunted!" Robbie exclaimed.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Kris yelled as her voice drifted away.

Remus launched himself at the door, eager to get to the kids that passed upon his territory. He whined though when the door would not budge. He attempted again and once more received the same fate. Remus moved away from the door and its immovableness.

As Remus moved away from the door, the stairs caught his eye. He trotted over to them and looked up to where they led. Curiosity got the better of him and he leap up the stairs as fast as he could to see where they led.

To be honest, Remus wasn't that all impressed. It was a hallway that had doors leading elsewhere and they were probably also immoveable. Remus walked to the end of the hall slowly, looking to his left and to his right searching for an open door. He didn't find any until the very last one.

Remus saw a sliver of moonlight peeking out from a crack on the door. He pushed on the door and it creaked open. Inside the room lay a four-poster bed with a paisley comforter laying over it. A single boarded window stood opposite the door where moonlight was shining through. Remus growled at the moon but walked over to the bed. He sniffed at the comforter. When he was satisfied that it had been touched by no one else, he sunk his teeth into it. Remus dragged the comforter across the floor as fluff started to come out of it. When the quilt was clear off the bed Remus abandoned it and leap on top of the bed and settled down.

Remus folded his paws and laid his head down on top of them. As shrieks drifted up to the old house on the hill, Remus slowly drifted into a fitful sleep.

"Just pick a story and run with it Sirius," James exclaimed, clearly frustrated. He closed the book he had in his lap and tossed it across the table. This was the longest he had ever spent in a library and he wasn't very happy; in fact, this is the longest he's been around books that were about Quidditch or the like.

"But I can't decide," Sirius whined, also throwing his book on the table.

Sirius, James, and Peter had been in the library for the past forty-five minutes looking through random books in an attempt to find a short horror story. It wasn't going too well.

Peter followed suit of Sirius and James and threw his book on the table as well. "How about we just make up our own story?"

"Because Peter," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Then he looked at James and whispered, "Why don't we just make up our own story?"

This time it was James' turn to roll his eyes. "Because Sirius, it obviously didn't occur to us. But now that Peter mentions it, we could make up our own story."

Peter grinned at James and then started to put all the books that they had gotten out back in the shelves.

"What are you doing Peter?" Sirius asked as he and James stood up to go back to the common room.

"Putting the books back," Peter said cautiously, putting the book he was holding in his hand back down.

"Why?" James asked.

"Because we got them out."

"No Peter," Sirius said, shaking his head. "We have a half hour or less to figure out this story. This is much more important than putting away books. The librarian can manage it." Sirius grabbed Peter's sleeve and started to drag him away.

"But there're so many books," Peter muttered, looking at the heap of books they left behind.

"Give it up Peter," James said, rolling his eyes. "We have a story to write."

Reluctantly Peter was dragged away back to the common room where James and Sirius immediately pulled out a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill.

"How about 'one dark and stormy night' as a beginning?" Sirius asked dipping the quill tip in the ink and placing it on the parchment.

"That's so…overused. We have to be original. We have to dare to do what no writer has dared before. We have to grip our audience from the first word. We'll suck them in with every sentence and then make them jump at the very end. They'll have nightmares for weeks," James said, his voice rising with almost every word until he was standing up in his seat. Sirius and Peter stared up at him as did the rest of the common room.

"So we'll stick with 'one dark and stormy night'?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," James said sitting back down in his seat.

Peter looked between his two friends and shook his head. He would never understand them.

"Get out of the way old man; I don't want your blood."

"I won't let you hurt my son."

"Hurting you will be useless so just move away."

"No."

I looked up at the sky where stars started to light up and the night sky started to darken.

"Daddy," I whined, tugging at his sleeve to get him to look at the rising moon.

"When I tell you to run, run Remus," he whispered in my ear, ignoring my whining. I nodded slowly, but continued to stare at the rising moon. A low growling made me tear my eyes away from the full moon.

Where an old man had stood, now was a werewolf growling menacingly at us. I scooted closer to my father as he tightened his grip on my hand.

"Run to your mother, Remus. I'll hold him off," my father whispered to me out of the side of his mouth. He gave me a little shove but I stayed where I was hanging tight on him. The werewolf slowly started to walk toward us.

"Run Remus!" he whispered, even more urgent than before. He shoved me harder and I almost fell. I looked up at him and then to the wolf who had his amber eyes turned toward me. My breathing became rapid and unnatural as he distinctly started to walk toward me.

I started to walk back slowly. Every step he took forward, I took back. The world became nothing. It was only me and the werewolf; me, a little kid who had yet to enjoy the splendor that life held, and a werewolf, who lived to bite children.

And then he pounced.

A/N: I like the ending. I really do. It might play a crucial part in the next chapter. Not really sure yet, but it might. Review lovely people, Review!