Author's note: Well, this drabble collection is officially one year old today! Honestly, for something that started off as potentially a oneshot, this came far. Thank you so much for all your support and reviews, they truly make my day every single time. To celebrate a year of drabbles and chapter 40 all at once, I wrote something slightly longer. This probably should have been published as a separate oneshot, but the final scene… well, that final scene belongs here for you guys. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Hogwarts: Assignment #3, Healer Studies Task #3 Spattergroit: Write about someone physically marked by something.

Warnings: Violence; canon violence against children; injuries; slight gore; one citrusey scene; canon-compliant discrimination

You Will Be Unmarked

Hope let Lyall handle the Healers—she didn't understand a word they were saying about healing potions anyways, and she was desperately afraid of stepping away from her son. Of course, Remus might not be able to tell that she was there. He hadn't been conscious for hours now, he'd lost too much blood at first and then the doctors—no, the Healers here—had sedated him. But she hoped he could tell that she was at his side. His little body was so broken and bruised and bandaged that she was afraid of doing so much as taking his hand, but still. She hoped he could tell she was there.

When Lyall came back in the room, running a hand through his hair, Hope sat up a little bit straighter.

"And?" she asked, her stomach tied in knots.

Lyall looked like he was about to be sick, which was what he'd looked like ever since they had woken up to their son's terrified and then pained screams.

"He's stable," Lyall said.

"He'll be okay?" Hope asked.

"He'll be a werewolf."

"But he'll live?"

"Hope are you hearing what I'm…"

"Answer the question, Lyall," Hope snapped. "Will he live?"

Lyall seemed to make himself smaller at the sound of her voice, and then he nodded.

A relieved sob burst from Hope's throat before she could cover her hands with her mouths. She turned to look at Remus again and sobbed.

"Thank God," she said, her hands reaching out for him before she remembered just how brutally the little boy had been attacked. Her hands shook and she buried her face in them again. "Oh, thank God…"

"I'm going to go get coffee," Lyall muttered before slipping out of the hospital room.

"Can I go?" Remus asked, watching Hope with big brown eyes as she went over the invitation he had brought home from school.

"Sweetheart, it's an invitation to a pool party," Hope said carefully.

"I know," Remus said. "There's going to be cake too."

Hope chewed on her lip some more.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," she said, reaching down to cup her son's cheek. "You know how hard it is to explain the scars to friends who don't know about magic."

Remus considered this for a second, as if trying to puzzle out how hard of a rejection this truly was.

"Maybe we can try?" he suggested.

Hope tried not to let her mind conjure the image of her son's back; the claw marks that riddled it, the angry clumps of twisted scar tissue on his shoulder that showed where teeth had once sunk in…

"I don't think we can," Hope said, her stomach twisted. "I'm sorry, baby."

"I have a question about Hogwarts," Remus asked Lyall as they walked down Diagon Alley. It was a familiar refrain; Remus had been nothing but questions about Hogwarts since Dumbledore's visit…

"Of course," Lyall said.

"What are the dormitories like?" Remus asked, looking up. It was a simple question but there was a fair bit of anxiety in his face as he waited for Lyall's answer.

"I was always more than comfortable in the Ravenclaw common room," Lyall said. "Soft beds, big desks so you can pile up all your books, soft light that doesn't strain your eyes when you stay up late reading, beautiful carpets…"

"That sounds nice," Remus asked.

"It is," Lyall said.

"But do you have to get changed in front of others or can you, you know, hide?" Remus asked. Lyall's stomach twisted.

"I hear you don't have to go home for Christmas if you don't want to," Sirius said one day as they were walking back to the common room after dinner. James and Peter were in detention, but Sirius and Remus had been quick enough not to get caught. McGonagall still hadn't been too happy about it; she was rather upset that some of her students had broken the record for most detentions before Christmas break. They had decided to lay low until January as a result.

"I didn't know that," Remus said. "Did you want to stay here for the holidays?"

"No, my family would never let me," Sirius said. "But I thought you should know."

"Me? Why?" Remus asked.

"Because… you know," Sirius said. He shifted uncomfortably. "If your family did that to your back, you need to know you can stay here and be safe…"

Remus blushed when Sirius said it.

"Oh no," he said. "No, it's not them, they would never… My family would never hurt me, they love me."

"Yeah?" Sirius asked, skeptical.

"Yeah," Remus said. "I promise. It's like I said, I got in an accident when I was a baby."

"Is that really what happened?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Remus said. "What else could it be?"

Mum kissed his forehead and tucked him back in bed, as if he was just a little boy.

"Try to get some sleep," she said. "Your father said he'd have a look at your arm later, to see if there's another potion he could try."

"I can't sleep Mum, you've got to tell me," Remus said, even if everything about his hoarse and pasty voice betrayed how exhausted he was. "When I broke through the spells, did I hurt anyone?"

"Remus…"

"Mum, did I?" Remus pressed on, propping himself up on his elbows even if it sent his head spinning. "Mum, I need to know. It's my worst fear, Mum, I need to know…"

"No, sweetheart, you didn't," Mum said. "Your father used a potion to run a test, and the only blood you had on you was your own."

Remus sighed in relief, falling back against his pillow.

"Thank God," he said. There wasn't a whole lot written about werewolves, and most of it was violent and just plain wrong and difficult to read—but Remus knew that after his latest growth spurt, his werewolf form was fully mature and as dangerous as it would ever be. It made him nervous around the other boys, even if the Marauders had proven themselves again and again, but now that he was home for the summer and dealing with the transformations mostly alone… well, being an apex predator capable of supernatural devastation was a frightening thing.

"Sweetheart, is that really something you worry about?" Mum asked, reaching out to push his hair out of his face.

"I rather die than turn someone into a werewolf," Remus said. He realized that that might have been a little bit of an intense thing to say to his mother, so he tried to walk it back. "I mean, I… I feel bad for the one who bit me, who lost control and all that, but I could never live with myself if something happened to someone because of me."

Mum seemed to be holding back, both from fidgeting with his sheets and from saying something.

"I'm sorry," Remus said. "I don't—I shouldn't talk about the night I was bitten…"

"No," Mum said. "No, no, Remus, it's your story and it's your life. You should talk about it. It's just that…"

"What is it?" Remus asked. Mum gulped.

"You should ask your father to talk to you about Fenrir Greyback," Mum said in a very calculated and measured voice. "I shouldn't have brought it up. I shouldn't have said that, but it… it's your deserve to know."

"That bloody monster," Sara MacMillan said, throwing her copy of the paper down onto the Gryffindor table. She pointed to an article as she read aloud. "'Three werewolves, one of which was identified as Fenrir Greyback by eyewitness accounts and the Department for the Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures, transformed near the Aberdeen Boarding School For Magical Students and mortally injured three students and one Defense Against the Dark Arts professor…'"

"Oh my gosh," Lily Evans whispered. "That's werewolf."

"Monsters," Nicholas Dawlish said, shaking his head. "Werewolves are absolute monsters."

Sirius looked at Remus, eyebrows furrowed, and he was about to say something to Dawlish when James kicked him under the table and shot him a look.

Remus never had much of an appetite for the first few days after the full moon and he definitely didn't have one now.

"Did someone get bitten?" Marlen McKinnon asked. "Merlin, I hope no one got bitten…"

"I don't understand why they're not hunted down," Michael McKinnon said. "I mean, what kind of a life is that anyways?"

Remus used his spoon to swirl the cereal in his bowl but didn't touch it—even if the other boys sat quietly with him until the Great Hall was mostly empty.

"Don't listen to them," Peter finally said when they were alone at Gryffindor table.

"They're not wrong," Remus said. "Greyback is a monster."

The other boys were quiet, not sure where to go from there.

"Are you and your father on speaking terms?" James asked.

"No," Remus said. "No we are not."

He had Lily's tea in one hand and a plate of bacon with strawberry jam-slathered toast in the other when she wobbled into the kitchen, somehow looking even more pregnant than she had when Remus had seen her the day before.

"Here you are," he said. Lily's radiant smile spread across her already glowing face.

"You're too sweet," Lily said, taking the food from him. He drew a chair for her from the dining table where Sirius and Peter were already eating. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, her kiss landing on one of the newest scars that slashed it. Lily had always been one of the only people in the world who saw Remus' scars and had found the perfect balance between noticing them, acknowledging them, and seeing past them.

"You are going to make a Mrs. Lupin very happy one day, unless she decides to keep her last name," Lily told him.

"Or hyphenate," Sirius said.

"Good point Sirius, she could hyphenate," Peter chimed in.

"Don't start with me before you've even had your tea, Lily," Remus said, guiding her to her seat.

"You will!" Lily called out. "Mark my words, Remus! I'm right, even if you don't see how much of a catch you really are."

He went to Godric's Hollow, because where else was he supposed to do with news like this, when he felt like he was going to throw up as badly as he wanted to? There was nowhere else to go; he walked briskly to get to Lily and James' place and the wards around the house let him drift through happily. He knocked on the door before letting himself in, yelling his name and that week's safeword as he crossed the threshold and pulled his rain-slicked cloak from around him to hang up.

"Moomoo!" Harry's little voice greeted him. Lily, James, and Sirius were sitting on the living room floor in a sea of scattered toys, playing with the baby.

"It's Uncle Moony, Harry, you're right. What a nice surprise!" Lily said with a smile, scooping up her son. Her smile wavered when she saw Remus' face.

"Remus?" James asked cautiously.

"He found me," Remus said, still incredulous.

"Who?" Sirius asked, reaching for his wand on the sofa.

"No, no, he's not here, I Apparated away as soon as I could, but… Greyback," Remus said. "Greyback found me."

"Oh, God," Lily said.

"Remus," James said, getting up.

"I'm fine," Remus said, shaking his head. "I'm fine, I just… I knew he was possessive and I knew he was territorial, but I didn't expect him to… to come find me."

James walked over to wrap his arms around Remus. Sirius wasn't far behind and Remus melted a little bit against them, shutting his eyes and exhaling briefly.

"Did he hurt you?" Sirius finally asked.

"No, no he didn't," Remus said.

"What did he want from you?" James asked finally.

"He said he came to claim me," Remus said hoarsely. "He said we were family and I could have a look at my shoulder if I didn't believe him."

"That's preposterous!" Lily said, getting to her feet with Harry propped up on one of her hips. "We're your family, not him."

Remus was dizzy.

"He… he remembered where he bit me," Remus said. "He knew it was my shoulder. He even pointed to the right one. How did he remember?"

"He did it on purpose, mate," Sirius said. "Maybe he… maybe that's why."

"I hate him," Remus said. As he spat out the words, he choked and Sirius and James went back to holding him.

"Me too," James said.

"I agree."

"Me three."

"Abadoob," Harry chimed in.

Remus wasn't a proud man—he knew he had a limited amount of things to be proud of anyways, but he had never had to do something more humiliating or uncomfortable than sit in the Department for the Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures and answer their lengthy and invasive questions as he was logged on the werewolf registry.

"And do you know the identity of the werewolf who turned you?" the attendant asked as she went through the ridiculous questionnaire that had grilled Remus on everything from his employment history to his romantic life.

"It was Fenrir Greyback," Remus said. "April 14th 1964."

"Greyback?" the attendant asked, her eyes rounding when she said it.

"Yes," Remus said. He couldn't imagine she needed him to spell it out for her.

She scribbled something in his file.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"It affects the safety rating you are given by the department," she explained.

"Safety rating?" he asked. "But I… that's… I've barely ever spoken to Greyback. What does he have to do with me?"

"But you have spoken to him before?" the attendant asked.

Remus walked out and found a bathroom to puke in.

"Wait," Remus said the second that Dora's lips slipped away from his. She pulled back but didn't go far, her nose only centimeters away from his.

"Are you okay?" she asked, not loosening the hold of her arms around his neck. He was distinctly aware of her legs wrapped around his hips as she straddled him, and he was still somewhat dizzy because he could taste her lip gloss on his lips.

"Yes, brilliant actually, but are we… are we going to have sex?" Remus asked, not sure how to phrase it any more nicely than that.

"I'd love to," Dora said with a wicked smile, lowering her lips to his again and twisting her hips in the absolute best way. Remus pulled back again and lowered his hands from where they rested at her waist and had been pulling her closer and closer only seconds ago.

"We don't have to," Dora said.

"No, it's not, I'd love to too, it's just…" Remus stopped and chewed on his lip. There was never an easy way to go about this. Even if the lights stayed off, his back could be read like a topographic map of injuries and moons and accidents and violence. It didn't always matter, but Dora… Dora was someone he wanted to see again. Dora wasn't someone he could spend a night with and slip away from.

"My back," Remus said. "Well, all of me, really—but my back is the worst part of… It has the scars from where I was attacked, but it can be… it can be shocking to see."

"Okay," Dora said, nodding.

Remus' breathing was ragged as he tried to think of what to do next.

"Do you… you should see before, that way you can decide if you want to go on," Remus said.

Dora looked hesitant but then she nodded and crawled off his lap. She pulled her legs to her chest as she sat on the bed and watched him. He stretched up and reached down for the edge of his jumper, which was already wrinkly from having fooled around. He pulled it off, showing her his back. The cool air of Grimmauld Place on his bare skin was slightly uncomfortable, as was Dora's gaze. He heard the mattress shift under her as she got up and he expected her to walk away—but then a pair of arms wrapped around his middle and Dora's forehead came to rest against his back.

"Remus?" she said.

"Yes?"

"We're going on," she told him simply.

He was sitting around the roaring fire with several other men—some his age, some younger, most of them just as shabby and beat up as Remus was. It wasn't quite like seeing his own reflection all around him, but there was something incredible about not sticking out. Dinner had long passed and most of the other men and women at the camp had gone to sleep. The children had been put to bed ages ago. But Remus didn't mind the fact that he was still up; the night air was cool, the stars were visible in the sky, and there was something comforting about sitting by something warm and shared to take it all in.

Remus was surprised when someone came to sit next to him, on the log he'd claimed. A hush fell on the other werewolves and it took everything in Remus not to squirm or pale or otherwise betray how uncomfortable he was next to Fenrir Greyback.

"Don't let me stop you from finishing that story, Weyland," Greyback said. He took a drink from the tin cup he'd brought with him, and Weyland continued his tale. Remus forced himself to react and laugh along with the others, for the sake of his cover.

As they were all laughing off the punchline, Greyback rose and clamped a hand on Remus' shoulder. His fingers rested where his teeth had left their mark over thirty years ago and Remus wanted to scream but stood still.

"It's good to have you, Remus," Greyback said. "I've waited a long time for you to join us. You've been with wizard kind for far too long."

The hairs on the back of Remus' neck stood up straight.

"I'm happy to be here," he said.

Bill had crumpled to the ground before Remus could even turn his wand towards Greyback.

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouted. Greyback, being his own weapon, was thrown away from Bill. Still, the older werewolf staggered to his feet easily. He recognized Remus with slanted eyes and flashed his teeth, sharpened to points even in his human form.

"You dare raise a wand to me," Greyback hissed. "A wand, as if you're a wizard like any other…"

"What did you do to him?" Remus asked, though he couldn't afford to take his eyes off of Greyback to assess Bill's condition.

"I gave you a family," Greyback bit. "I am giving you the only family that will ever accept you…"

"No," Remus said. "No, Greyback, you dole out pain and violence and use it to group together those you've harmed and keep them at your feet."

Greyback snarled.

"Stupefy," Remus said. Greyback dodged the spell and laughed, howling at the moon though the voice that poured from his mouth was entirely human. He looked at Remus with a wicked grin.

"Are you going to let me go or watch your friend bleed out?" Greyback asked. In the split second that Remus tore his gaze from Greyback to check on Bill, he vanished.

"Remus," Dora said. "Remus, I need you to say something."

Remus looked up to her. He was sitting on their bed and she was staring down at him. Her good mood had shattered when he hadn't reciprocated her excitement, and Remus felt guilty but mostly… well, he felt shattered too.

"I am not like Fenrir Greyback," Remus said.

Dora blinked. This was obviously not what she had thought he would say.

"What do you mean?" Dora asked quietly.

"I'm not in the business of making other werewolves," Remus said quietly.

"You're not in the… Remus I just told you I was pregnant," Dora said. "Merlin, I said 'say something,' but say anything but that!"

But Remus didn't have anything else to say; he was numb now.

Remus didn't like his skin, but today it was needed—for once it was needed, no matter how beat up and damaged it was. So when he lay down next to Dora, he unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off so that she could lay Teddy on his chest. Skin to skin, his son's little heart beating just above Remus' own.

Teddy fell asleep against Remus nearly immediately, since he'd just had his first full meal. Remus felt his own breathing synchronize with the baby's deep and even breaths. Dora leaned her head against Remus' shoulder, watching Teddy sleep.

Remus had forgotten that very specific smell that new baby's skin had—that pure and sweet and indescribably clean smell. Not to mention that Teddy's skin was so soft, so gentle, so unblemished and unmarked…

"I can't believe he's here," Remus said quietly. "I can't believe how perfect he is. And he's… he's okay."

"He's okay," Dora said again. She was falling asleep against Remus' arm, and rightfully so after the marathon of a labour she had just had.

Andromeda came by a few minutes later to deliver the postpartum potion that Molly had brewed and stopped when she saw Remus. He was conscious of how bare his chest was and he knew exactly which of his scars Andromeda could see from where she was—but for once Remus didn't care.

Andromeda put the potion down next to Dora.

"I'll make sure she takes it when she wakes up," Remus said quietly.

"Thank you," Andromeda said. She smiled at Teddy. "He looks peaceful, with you."

Remus smiled at his mother-in-law. The words made him proud in a way he hadn't expected them to.

Parvati Patil hadn't been his student in years, but Remus knew how gently he had to pull her away from Lavender Brown's side. Sobs racked Parvati's body as she went limp in Remus' arms.

"Parvati, come with me," Remus said as gently as he could. "Parvati, let's go find Padma… let's go find Padma and get you to the Great Hall, where everyone is regrouping..."

"I can't leave her," Parvati sobbed. "Professor Lupin, I can't leave her… look at what happened when I left her…"

Lavender Brown's body told a gruesome story, laying in a sticky pool of her own blood. Her throat was torn and Greyback had gone after her arms too.

"Okay," Remus said. "Okay, Parvati, we won't leave her. We'll cover her up so that people remember her without her wounds and we'll carry her someplace safe; to the Great Hall. Then Madam Pomfrey can have a look at the cut by your eye. Okay?"

Parvati was still shaking in his arms, but she nodded.

"You can let me go," Parvati said quietly. "I promise I won't throw myself on her. But I could kill Fenrir fucking Greyback."

"Okay," Remus said, slowly releasing Parvati who, as promised, didn't crumple back down at her best friend's side. Me too, he could have added.

It was their first outing, all of them together, since the war had ended and even if they were just going out for ice cream, Remus couldn't help but feel nervous. Still, there had been no way they weren't going to go support Florean Fortescue's grand reopening once the ice cream maker had been found and rescued from a Muggle hospital where Death Eaters had dumped him.

They had picked a warm fall weekday to visit, when the rush of the back-to-school shopping was long gone. Diagon Alley was relatively calm and the sun shone generously on them as they sat at one of the tables outside the ice cream parlour, taking it all in. They had brought Andromeda with them too, since she could especially use an excuse for a nice day out as her first anniversary without Ted approached.

"It's too bad that babies shouldn't have ice cream before they're a year old," Dora commented as she finished off another spoonful of her ice cream—a vanilla bean ice cream with pieces of shortbread, blueberries, and a caramel drizzle on top. Remus wasn't quite as adventurous and had been more than content with a few scoops of Florean's signature triple chocolate bowl.

"He's missing out," Dora said, reaching out to poke at Teddy's foot. Teddy kept chewing on the toy they'd set him up with.

"It'll give us an excuse to come back," Remus said.

"As if either of you sweet tooths needed one," Andromeda replied. Dora snorted and Remus laughed. Teddy started acting up from his stroller, his cries whiny and short as if he were hungry. As if that weren't enough of a sign, Teddy's hair drifted to the same magenta's as his mother's—calling to her.

Dora put her ice cream down.

"I hear you, little man," Dora said leaning forwards to scoop him up. Remus passed her the canary yellow nursing cover stashed in Teddy's baby bag, under the stroller, and she got him set up for feeding.

"While we're here, I should stop by the potioneer's for more dittany," Andromeda said.

"I can go for you," Remus said. "I have to pick up a few things myself."

"Oh, it's no trouble Remus…"

"It's no trouble," Remus said. "Besides, we should get home to put Teddy down after he eats, and I've finished my ice cream. I'll just run over now."

He left them at the ice cream parlour and crossed the street to go swing by Antioche and Son's Apothecary. He made his errand quick, only haggling about half as much as he usually would, to cross the street and return.

"In a rush, are you?" someone said behind him as he crossed Diagon Alley again.

Remus turned around and paled when he recognized the cloaked figure that had called out to him. He quickly drew his wand and Fenrir Greyback smirked.

"Always with the wand, Lupin," Greyback said. "When will you learn your place?"

"I'm surprised you're showing yourself in public like this," Remus said. "You're a wanted man, Greyback. The Aurors have permission to jinx you on sight."

"The Aurors can come find me whenever they want," Greyback said with a smirk. "You and I both know they're afraid. Besides, some risks are worth taking. I heard about the happy news."

Remus' stomach tied itself in a knot.

"What news?" Remus asked quietly. Remus and a few other werewolves, including some former Greyback pack members, had launched legal action against the Ministry of Magic to repeal the werewolf registry, but that couldn't possibly be what Greyback was smiling like that about…

"Yours, Remus," Greyback said. "I heard about the little cub."

Remus' hand tightened around his wand. He realized, when he looked over his shoulder quickly, that Greyback's amber eyes were focused on Dora and Teddy.

"He's not a cub, he's a child," Remus said then.

"I didn't even know you had a mate, Remus."

"Don't call her that," Remus said again. "Don't call her that and walk away. Now."

Greyback smiled.

"You didn't think I'd be curious?" Greyback said. "You didn't think I'd care about our little family growing?"

"Stop it," Remus said.

"Because I am," Greyback said. "I heard he isn't a werewolf yet, your little one. But he could be the strongest of us all, I can tell by the scent of him. I'm sure he'd be just as delicious as you once were…"

Remus pointed his wand before Greyback could even register the twitch of his hand.

"Avada Kedavra," he said without a split second of hesitation or pause. No, Remus had had enough. If he had been a better man, perhaps Fenrir Greyback could have survived this encounter, but Remus carried enough marks for his son to deserve none.

And so the spell burst from his wand as violently and abruptly as it had spilled from Remus' lips, green light flashing in the alley.

There were some screams and some running as Fenrir Greyback toppled to the ground.

"Someone call the Aurors!" one of the shopkeepers screamed.

Remus dropped his wand and put his empty hands in the air, heart beating in his throat.

"Remus!"

When he looked up again, Dora had sprung into action—leaving a crying Teddy in Andromeda's arms and running to join him with her wand in hand, the top of her shirt remaining unbuttoned.

"Remus what did you do…" she asked, eyes wide, looking at the body on the ground. Greyback's amber eyes were frozen in the shock he'd felt after finally snapping Remus' patience and finding his limit.

"Nothing I won't be happy to answer for and nothing I can't defend," Remus said.

"Remus, is that—" She cast a spell around the body, encircling it with a protective blue shield that Aurors often cast on crime scenes.

"Remus…." Dora said.

"Nobody threatens my son," Remus interrupted. "Greyback can do his worst to me, and he happily has in the past. But nobody threatens my son."

WC: 4821