A/N: Here is a story to hold you over until I put up another chapter on my chaptered stories :-p The name Roma means Rome, which is where Remus and Romulus were from (Ancient Rome). Remus, at least to me, seems to have a troubled past that he doesn't wish to talk about, therefore this story. Also, some of you may think that the Voldemort part in the beginning is a bit early for him to start showing his face, but I think that Voldemort would start gathering followers as soon as possible. Anyways, hope you enjoy!
"Hello, Finn," came a rough voice.
"Fenrir. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Finn said, placing his reading glasses and quill down on the desk he was sitting at.
"I just wanted to talk," he replied, sitting in the chair in front of Finn's desk. He folded his hands on his chest, which showed yellowing fingernails. Finn tried not to grimace.
"And what is it you want to talk about?"
"Well, to be quite honest with you, it's more of a proposition."
"What makes you think that I'll take you up on your proposition?"
"Have you heard of the Dark Lord?" Fenrir asked, leaning forward slightly.
"Lord Voldemort?"
Fenrir slammed his hand on the desk. "Don't you dare speak his name! No one is worthy of speaking his name!" he yelled.
Finn rolled his eyes. "Get to the point. All I know is that he is hiding out in Albania right now like a coward."
"The Dark Lord is not a coward. He is noble and wants to do the right thing among the wizarding world. I've came to you today to ask if you wanted to join the right side. There is a war in the near future. I believe you want to be on the right side."
"I will be on the right side," Finn said coolly. "The side without you on it."
"You would be a great asset to the Dark Lord. You are high up in the Ministry, are you not?"
"Yes."
"Well," Fenrir started, getting up and walking around to the back of Finn's desk, "have you ever wanted to be Minister?"
"Everyone wants to be Minister of Magic. It's a known fact."
"The Dark Lord can help you achieve that goal. He can…eliminate certain people if need be so you can get to the top. All he asks is servitude towards him. What do you think?" he finished, running a long finger over the mantle that was behind Finn's desk.
Finn stood up, looked at the fairly hairy man in the eye, and said, "I want you to get out of my house right now. I am not joining Voldemort's side. I can't even believe he would have the likes of you in his ranks."
"The likes of me?" Fenrir inquired.
"I know what you are. I have a few friends in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The past few months you have been
causing quite a stir. I hear they've upgraded you from a level four werewolf to a level five. That is very serious, Fenrir. One wrong move, and they could send you straight to Azkaban. I'm assuming this is why you are with the likes of Voldemort. He wants you to join his side because you are a violent creature, even if you aren't transformed."
"There are more of us than you think, Finn. And all of us are on his side. When the time comes, you will be sorry," Fenrir hissed.
"Get out of my house right now you hairy freak."
Fenrir raised his eyebrow, walked towards the door, and turned around. "Like I said, you will be sorry," he said as he slammed the door.
Nine-year old Remus Lupin sat at his desk reading his battered copy of Hogwarts: A History. Even though he wasn't set to attend for another two years,
he still wanted to read everything he could get his hands on. He had at least twenty or thirty books on Hogwarts, and a few more on the other wizarding schools throughout Europe.
His younger sister was the complete opposite of Remus. She preferred being outside, planting various Muggle flowers and just enjoying life at the young age of seven. He thought that Roma would do great in Herbology when she attended Hogwarts. Roma would probably also be in Ravenclaw as she was sharp as a tack.
Remus looked out from his window and saw her in the small part of the yard their mother had cornered off for her own private garden. Their maternal grandmother had taught her all about different flowers that grew in her garden. What Remus didn't really tell his grandmother is that Roma probably used magic subconsciously to help her flowers grow faster than normal.
Continuing to look outside, he noticed a dark figure near the edge of the trees. He blinked, and the figure was gone.
How odd, he thought. He stared intently, willing the figure to come back out, but it didn't. Roma stood up and dusted her knees off. She walked into the house, and into Remus' room without knocking.
"There is a reason why I had my door closed," he said, closing his book.
"Well, I knew you were just up here reading. That's what you always do. Now come outside and look at the new dahlias I planted," she said, pulling on his arm.
"Okay, okay. Let me just clean up a bit." By the time he turned around to clean up the books, they had disappeared to the bookshelf. He looked at Roma with a raised eyebrow, and she smiled widely.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"You know what," Remus laughed.
They walked down the stairs, and their mother was sitting in the living room.
"Where are you two going?" she yelled.
"We're going out to see Roma's garden," Remus yelled back.
"Hurry back. Dinner's going to be ready in a few minutes."
They ran out to the garden, and stood a few moments admiring Roma's handiwork. Her garden was a virtual rainbow of varying flowers. She made the most of the space by placing flowers in every nook and cranny of the small garden. Some flowers were tall, and some were fairly small, but somehow you could see every single flower.
Remus smiled at her as she fingered a small dark purple flower. "You did such a great job," he remarked.
"Thanks," she smiled.
Suddenly, Remus got an uneasy feeling. He felt eyes on the back of his head. "Roma, let's get back to the house," he said, taking her by the arm rather
roughly.
"Ow! What's wrong?"
"I have a bad feeling. Just get into the house," he instructed.
But it was too late. He heard a low growl coming from the trees. Slowly turning around, he saw what could only be a werewolf running towards him. Next
to him, Roma started to scream. Her scream was muffled instantly by the large animal who had jumped at her, and knocked Remus over. Remus got up and saw the horrible sight. The animal had went straight for Roma's throat. There was so much blood everywhere, and she wasn't breathing.
"ROMA!" he screamed. The creature turned slowly towards him, and advanced. The creature pushed him down, and stood over Remus. The werewolf lowered his mouth to Remus' stomach, and bit. He then began to scratch Remus from head to toe.
"Sectumsempra!" cried out Finn. The werewolf let out a cry and ran back toward the woods.
"Remus!" screamed Ivy. She ran over and picked up her limp son. She began rocking back and forth with her son in her arms before her eyes settling on her daughter. Another scream pierced the night, and she ran over to her daughter and held her only daughter and son.
Finn, tears streaming down his face, pulled his wife away from their children. He held onto his wife and two children and Apparated to St. Mungo's.
"Mr. Lupin?" came a soft voice.
Finn looked up and saw a Healer with her bright green robes on. The woman looked just a few years older than him and had brown hair with bits of white streaking through.
"Yes?" he replied, standing from his seat. Ivy stood slowly and held onto his arm.
"I'm sorry, but your daughter was killed pretty much on impact. When she fell back, she hit her head wrong and her neck broke. There would have been no use for the werewolf who attacked her to even take a bite at her neck. As for your son, he is just suffering from cuts and a deep bite. He will be fine, but as you know, he will be a werewolf for the rest of his life." Ivy made a small squeaking noise. "He will be able to live fairly normal, but he will suffer when the full moon comes around. I would keep track of the full moon every month, and when it comes, I would suggest locking him up. I know it sounds cruel, but he will be very violent if he is not locked up. I took the liberty of gathering some pamphlets and a list of books for you on werewolves. I suggest you read them."
"Thanks," Finn replied, taking the stack of pamphlets. "When will he be able to go home?"
"Sometime within the next few days. He's still sore from the cuts received by the animal. If you want to you can go and talk to him. Visiting hours will be over in another hour."
"Thanks," Finn said, leading his wife to his son's room.
Remus leaned his head against the cool glass of his window. He just finished the week of the full moon and this time had been one of the worst.
His parents had made a shed out in the backyard for the time of the month when he would be incapacitated. His mother had tried to make it as nice as possible inside. She put a bed in it, with flowers and a desk, even though he destroyed them every time he transformed.
It was July and it was fairly cool outside for this time of the year. He glanced up and noticed clouds were forming nearby. It had been nearly two years since Roma's death and he hated every moment without her.
He heard a knock at his door, and said, "Come in."
"Breakfast is ready, dear," his mother said.
Remus got up slowly, and walked down the stairs. His father was at the table reading The Daily Prophet, avoiding his son's eyes. Ever since that night, his father was very distant to him. He mumbled a "good morning" to his son, without looking away from the paper. He finished his coffee, and told them good-bye. Remus nodded, and kept poking at his eggs.
As soon as his father left, the family owl, Bartholomew, flew through the open window. The owl landed on the table in front of Remus and dropped a letter on his plate. Remus turned the envelope over and saw the Hogwarts seal staring up at him. He threw the envelope aside and continued to poke at his breakfast.
His mother picked up the letter and asked, "Why did you throw this to the side? Aren't you going to Hogwarts?"
"Write them and tell them I'm not going."
"Why on earth would you not want to go?"
Remus shoved away from the table and yelled, "Because of what I am! Parents wouldn't want their children going to school with the likes of me!"
After Remus' outburst toward his mother, he apologized, "I'm sorry, mum. It's just this last time was a rough transformation for me." He walked over and hugged his mother, who was on the verge of tears. Suddenly, there was a small pop outside the house. Remus and his mother looked out to see an old wizard with white hair and beard standing on the porch.
"Professor Dumbledore?" his mother asked through the window.
"Hello, Ivy. May I come in and have a word?"
Ivy hurried to the door and opened it for the aging wizard. He wore robes of navy blue, and his half-moon spectacles were perched on the edge of his rather crooked nose. He sat down at the kitchen table, looking around to take in his surroundings.
"Can I get you anything?" Ivy asked.
"Some tea would be lovely," Dumbledore replied. As Ivy busied herself with making the tea, he turned to Remus. "Mr. Lupin, I hear that you do not wish to go to Hogwarts this fall. Why is that?"
Remus' mouth fell open. How did he know? he thought. "Well, I…um…"
"You're a werewolf. I know. There have been many werewolves in the past that attended Hogwarts. Since I've been Headmaster, there haven't been any, but I can make some accommodations for you."
"How?" Remus inquired.
Ivy handed Dumbledore his tea. " Thank you, Ivy. Well, I believe we can make a tunnel leading out of the school to the outskirts of Hogsmeade. We can make a temporary home for you while you are there. We can put the same charms on it as the school itself."
"But what if someone finds the tunnel and goes down it while I'm transformed?"
"That does pose a problem," Dumbledore said, scratching his chin. "There is a Herbologist in Denmark who is making a new breed of willow trees. They have just been approved by the Ministry. They are called Whomping Willows. Any person who approaches this tree will be knocked back, and hopefully won't try to get past it again."
"Then how would I get there without getting hurt?" Remus asked.
Dumbledore smiled. "Always asking questions. There are a few spells I could put on it when we take you to transform. The teachers will know what will be going on, and will not penalize you for not showing up to class."
Remus thought on this for a while. His dream had finally come true. He could go to Hogwarts without worrying about his condition. He looked the old wizard in the eye, and said, "Then I'll go."
Dumbledore smiled, and shook his hand. "You won't regret it, Mr. Lupin."
And Remus never did.