More than just a Nightmare
Prologue
A small boy with tangled hair, walked around the forest he knew so well feeling lost and scared. He had emerged from his hiding place some ago but he could not understand how when playing hide and seek he had managed to lose his parents.
It was starting to get dark. Noises that Remus had never heard before now surrounded him. His eyes filled with tears as he stared into the full moon.
A deafening howl suddenly filled the forest. Remus screamed in terror , running as fast as his tiny legs could manage.
But it was not fast enough. A large dark shadow had pounced upon him. Pain started to shoot through every fibre of his body until suddenly everything went black.
Permissum obscurum fio vos quod sceptrum vos.
Nine years later
Remus woke up screaming in agony. His body felt like it was being slowly ripped apart. He did not know why as well as the almost nightly nightmares, that he had had for over half of his life, for the past few days his dreams had been so painful. He couldn't understand it let alone try to describe it. The strangest thing was that the pain always stopped about ten minutes after him waking up.
Sirius ran to Remus's side. His face pale and eyes wide with worry.
"Are you alright Moony?"
"Yeah I'm fine, it was just a nightmare." He hated lying to Sirius but he didn't want to scare anyone – it probably just nothing anyway.
"You sure that you're okay?" Sirius asked, still not convinced. "Do you want some chocolate?"
"No thanks Padfoot" Remus replied giving a weak laugh. "It was just a dream since when has anybody been hurt by a dream." Sirius gave Remus a weird look before going back to bed.
Remus sighed wishing that what he had told Sirius was the truth. He rolled over as he tried to get to sleep. It felt like there was a strange, small lump beneath him. When he sat up to see what it was he saw a chocolate bar on his bed. Remus ate it feeling happier than he had been in a long time, but not just because of the chocolate.
There was something wrong with Remus. Sirius knew that. It was obvious – he barely slept, when he did he had nightmares much worse than normal, whenever Sirius asked him if he was okay he acted weird and uncomfortable. Remus was a not imagining it.
What Sirius didn't know was why Remus had lied to him. Remus usually told him everything. Admittedly Remus had been quieter the past two months though that was probably his own fault. Sirius could still not believe that Remus could forgive him so easily after the Whomping Willow incident.
Respecting his privacy and not wanting to betray his friend again. Sirius told no one his suspicions.
Although he decided not to tell anyone his suspicions, he just hoped that what ever Remus was not telling him would not cause anymore hurt in the young werewolf's life.
The day went by fast for Remus, too fast. He could barely concentrate. He had not slept for four days. The pain was getting worse. Professor Binns monotonous voice seemed to echo in his head, trying to lull him to sleep.
Remus forced his eyelids open. He must not fall asleep. He could not let everyone see him in that state: Drenched in sweat, screaming in agony, whimpering and shaking with fear. But most of all, he did not want Sirius to see how much he actually suffered.
Though Sirius helped him after every nightmare, he did not know the how bad the recent ones were – since Remus cast a silencing spell around his bed each night. The only reason Sirius heard parts of Remus's suffering was because when he were became an animingus his magic and senses were heightened. (This was a rare side affect but not unheard of amongst witches and wizards with above average magical strength).
Remus looked up from his work he now had no urge to sleep as a strange electricity seemed to be gathering in his stomach. A weird yelp sound escaped from his mouth. His stomach felt like it was going to explode. In his confused state he couldn't breathe properly. He tried to do his work but the room seemed to be swinging, up and down. Professor Binns was asking him a question, he looked concerned. Remus thought that he must be drawing attention to himself if the professor noticed the behaviour of one of his students.
He tried to tell everyone that he was okay but what came out of his mouth made no coherent sense. It wasn't his fault his sight and hearing were now so blurred. He felt like he was falling. His eyes shut. After opening his eyes again he saw two distressed eyes, which were filled with the colours of the ocean, very close to tears. The last thing he remembered was hearing a loud crash, and then collapsing on the floor.