A/N: I warn you that there are mentions of past abuse in this chapter, read with care. I would hate to trigger anyone. Next chapter after this is his letter and first year, yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, just Fern and Oliver.
Remus was brought back to the cosy little seaside cottage in Beaumaris, Cardiff with two adults who would take care of him. He had only been living here three days so far and he had been curious to explore every nook and cranny of the house and garden.
Fern called him in from the garden for a before dinner bath. He was nervous as this would be the first time the kindly woman would see just how extensively his father had hurt him. Fern softly asked, "Remus, fy mab, do you need help?" Remus gulped and shyly nodded, not entirely sure how to take a bath by himself. "I'll wait behind the curtain until you're undressed, little one." Remus shook his head, "Can you help please? I um… I need to show you where I'm hurt." Fern nodded slowly and sympathetically, "Alright, little one." Remus bit his lip and removed the clothes from his malnourished small body. There were marred scars, bruises, scorch marks and thin twisted red scars. Fern stroked his cheek gently, "Tell me what happened, gariad. I can't treat them if I don't know what I'm healing." Remus silently pointed to one of the red scars, "A pure silver pen." He pointed to the bruises, "his hands." He bit his lip, pointing to the marred scars, "M-Me on f-full mo-moons…" He pointed to the scorch marks, "A pure silver coin." Fern hugged the small boy close to her in a protective stance, "You are safe now, my little one." Remus snuggled her close, feeling safe in the reddish blonde woman's embrace. She whispered soft words to him in Welsh and English before she ran a nice warm bubble bath for the six year old werewolf. He playfully popped the bubbles in the water, enjoying the calming and healing smells of jasmine, lavender and ginger. Fern carefully took her time washing and conditioning his sandy blond hair, marvelling in how much he would pass as her own son. She had a warm fluffy blue towel waiting for him when he came out of the bath. She gently dried him and combed his hair. An hour before bedtime, she gave him a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Remus felt like he was finally home since his mother had been killed. Fern and Oliver tucked him into bed and softly said their goodnights, "Goodnight cub, sleep well. We'll leave the night light on, okay? Come get us if you need us, Rem." Oliver spoke softly in his strong rumbling voice, turning the star shaped night light on. Fern spoke softly, "Goodnight, my cub. Sweet dreams, little one. As you know, we're just down the hall if you need us." Remus yawned a bit before softly speaking, "'Night Fern, 'Night Oliver." They smiled softly at him and watched him snuggled up under the patchwork duvet and drift off to sleep. Fern smiled and turned off the main light.
She took Oliver's hand in hers and walked to the kitchen, where there were papers for them to sign from the Ministry of Magic. Oliver asked softly, "Sweet one, what are these? Are they from your lot?" She nodded, "Adoption papers for the cub, Olly." Oliver smiled warmly, "Where do I sign? I haven't seen you this happy since the day I placed my mark on you as my mate." She softly spoke in a happy voice, "We finally have a cub, Ols. Finally. A little one, all of our own. How I've dreamed of this." Oliver kissed her forehead, signing the papers with her happily and watching her send them back off with the owl they had arrived with earlier. He made them a cup of tea and grabbed his sudoku book. There was a blazing fire in the hearth, and they sat down beside it with cups of tea. Fern doing her knitting while Oliver solved sudokus. Morning came with an official owl that gave them a certificate that announced they were now the legal and binding guardians of Remus John Lupin, who was still sound asleep in his warm cosy room. His favourite colour was silvery grey and blue, so the room had been magically decorated to showcase such. There was even glow in the dark stars, because Remus loved the different constellations, and a glow in the dark moon, charmed to keep track of the actual lunar cycle. This Friday would be their first full moon together as a family and Remus was worried. He knew Fern was too gentle to tie him up or lock him away, so he wondered what they did. In the kitchen, Oliver was making breakfast of bacon, herby scrambled eggs and English breakfast muffins. Fern was making the tea and watering the plants. They had a schedule you see. Oliver would make breakfast; they would make lunch together and Fern would make dinner. They had been doing this for years. Fern kissed his cheek, "I'll go and wake the cub, fy am byth." He kissed her lips quickly, "Of course, dearest. Tell him breakfast will soon be ready, love." She smiled, "I will, fy gariad." Fern went to go and wake Remus, who had slept very well, in the cosy room. He sleepily smiled, waking up with a yawn, "Morning tree-lady." Fern chuckled softly at his fond nickname for her, "Good morning, cub. Breakfast is waiting downstairs. We'll begin lessons today while Oliver's gone to work." Remus got up and began gathering clothes for that day, "What does Olly work as?" Fern smiled, "He's a librarian in a Muggle school." Remus' eyes lit up, shot with amber, "A librarian? That's so cool!" Fern smiled warmly, "Come downstairs in your pyjamas, little one. You can shower and dress afterwards." They spend the rest of the day and the weeks following that, teaching Remus about history, astronomy, English, Welsh and wizarding customs. The weeks turned swiftly into months and the months shed into years.
Before they knew it, it was time for Remus' eleventh birthday, which meant his Hogwarts letter would be arriving soon. They didn't know it then, but the future of the blossoming little werewolf who was now a healthy weigh and height for his age, was being determined as they spoke by fate.