Remus was napping when his parents finally made their way up the stairs. His mum had asked him to play quietly, and since he had promised his papa that he would be good, he did as she asked. He really wanted to sneak down the stairs to listen, but papa always told him that breaking promises was for cowards, and Remus wanted to be brave. So, even though he heard the loud crack of his papa's Apparation and wanted nothing more than to run down the stairs and throw himself at the man, he stayed in his room. He had played with all his toys- the little rolling truck his mother had given him, his toy wand, and the teddy bear that went everywhere with him. He had looked through his picture books, and tried to read one of the bedtime stories that mum liked, but he couldn't put all the letters together yet. It seemed like his parents were taking an awfully long time to talk. He knew that Papa was worried, and he knew that after this morning, his mum was very sad.
Remus had tried to make her laugh after Papa had left, but she had only smiled sadly at him when he showed her a cartwheel. Remus was worried. In all his short life, he didn't remember his parents every having such scary faces when looking at each other. One time, he remembered seeing his mum looking like that- all scary and pinched like Granny. But that was because the rabbits had gotten into her garden and ate up all the green tops. Remus didn't ever want his mother to look at him like that. As the little boy tried to figure out how to make his mother laugh again, he grew sleepy.
He had been playing quietly for a long time, far longer than any boy of almost five could possibly do on his own. Disgruntled now, and anxious to see his father, Remus grabbed his teddy by an arm and clambered up onto his bed. He screwed up his face and concentrated real hard like Papa always told him to when he was learning magic, and tried to wish himself down into the kitchen. Remus tried several times, growing more and more frustrated when he opened his eyes and saw he was still sitting on his bed. Remus pulled his teddy up to his chest, muttered "It's not fair!" and put his head down.
Playing quietly was hard work, and Remus was suddenly very tired. His head slowly drifted down, and soon, small boy and battered teddy were nestled in a cozy ball on top of a red wool blanket, and the only sound in the room was the gentle snoring of nearly five-year-old boy. He didn't stir when his parents finally came into his room, and only snuggled in deeper when he was covered with a blanket from the closet. He smiled slightly in his sleep as a hand passed over his head, but he was so deeply asleep that he didn't hear the whispered voice say "Let's leave him, Hope. We can talk with him later."
Some time later, Remus came awake with a start. He had felt something funny, almost like someone was watching him. His head came up, and the boy glanced around his room. All his toys were where he had left them, and Teddy was face down on the bed, so it wasn't him. Slowly, his eyes shifted to the door. It was open a couple inches, which he thought was odd. When Mum had asked him to stay in his room, she had closed the door completely. Remus knew it was because she wanted to be able to hear if he opened it- the door squeaked loudly when it moved. He was pretty sure it had still been closed when he fell asleep.
A little worried now, he glanced at the window, and was shocked to see that it was dark. He wondered why his parents hadn't woken him, and then a loud growl came from somewhere in the room. Remus giggled- apparently he hadn't eaten in a while, and his tummy monster was hungry. He sat up quickly and was confused when his blanket slid down. "Mum must have come to see me," he thought to himself, and smiled as he vaguely remembered a hand stroking his head.
Grabbing Teddy by the arm again, he scooted off the bed. When he hit the floor, he was reminded of something else he hadn't done in a while, and made his way to the loo first. When he reached his parents' room, he glanced in, and was surprised to see that both Papa and Mum were asleep. Torn between the need to relieve himself, feed the monster in his belly, and cuddle with his parents, he paused for a few seconds. The most prominent need made its presence known again, so Remus scampered through his parents' room to the toilet. He made quick work of his task, and remembered to flush the toilet, put the seat down and wash his hands, just like Mum always told him to. Scooping up Teddy once more, Remus decided to head down to the kitchen.
It wasn't like mum to forget to feed him, but he wanted to show his parents that he was a big boy and could handle it, and decided to make himself a sandwich. He went quietly down the steps, careful to avoid the one that creaked in the center, and wandered into the kitchen. He glanced at the window above the sink, and saw that the moon was beginning to peak out. Remus loved the moon; it was so pretty at night. Where they lived, so far away from the city, the moon was so bright that he didn't need a light to see outside. As the clouds moved, he saw that it was his favorite moon- a full circle. Suddenly, he didn't feel so hungry. He felt himself pulled by the moon, and crossed to the back door.
Remus knew that he shouldn't go outside without his parents, especially at night, but tonight was special. He didn't often get to see the whole moon, and he told himself that he wouldn't go any farther than the porch. And besides, he had Teddy with him. Papa had told him that Teddy was special, like he and Papa were special. He said that Teddy had magic, and would keep him safe as long as Remus loved him and took him along everywhere. Teddy was his very best friend, and Papa never lied, so Teddy went everywhere. Remus listened closely to make sure his parents were still sleeping, and slowly opened the door. When the crack was wide enough for him to slip through, he stopped, listening again. It was still very quiet in the house, so he slipped through and pulled the door almost closed behind him.
Remus took a couple steps away from the door, and sat down at the edge of the porch. His little legs dangled over the side as he pulled Teddy into his lap. "Look, Teddy. See the moon?" The little boy pointed up into the sky, feeling happy and relaxed for the first time all day.
"Gee Teddy," he said. "I could sit here all night. The moon and the stars are so pretty! Papa says the stars are the great wizards that have died. He says that when they die, they turn into stars, and they keep watch over the wizard world and keep us safe." The boy kept his voice low, not wanted to wake his parents and spoil this special, secret moment. Remus felt his body settling as he counted the stars high above his head.
"I think I'm going to ask Mum to put stars on my ceiling," Remus told Teddy. "Maybe if I can see the stars, it will help next time she tells me to play quietly." He laughed a little bit, enjoying his stolen moment of freedom. It was so quiet here in the woods, and there wasn't any wind on this night. It was awfully cold though, being February and all, so Remus decided he would go back in soon. As he gathered Teddy and stood up, a sound caught his attention. It was loud and sounded like the crack his Papa made when he came home. Remus was confused; Papa was upstairs, in bed and asleep. The small boy looked out towards the trees, trying to see where the sound had come from. He started backing up toward the door, and only made it one shuffling step when something stepped out of the woods toward him.
The moon was so bright that Remus could see a long, low shape making its way across the yard towards him. He was only a couple steps away from the door, and safety, but was too scared to move. He had been outside at night before, but had never seen any creatures this close to his house. Papa had always warned him that some scary animals lived in the woods, and that he wasn't to come outside without Mum or Papa with him. The moon had been so pretty though, and he couldn't help it. He had wanted to see it.
But now, with that thing, whatever it was, stalking across the yard at him, Remus was terrified. As the creature got closer, Remus saw its eyes flash in the moonlight. They were bright and golden, and Remus felt a ball of ice form where his tummy monster had been growling only a few minutes earlier. Suddenly, the creature stepped out of the shadows, and Remus screamed. The wolf was big and shaggy and gray, like the wolf in Mum's story book, the wolf that gave him nightmares whenever she read that story too close to bedtime. Remus turned to run back into the house; it wasn't very far, but he didn't make it.
The boy heard the crashing of the wolf as it crossed the yard and leapt at the porch. He heard the wind whistle behind him and screamed again as something caught at his pants. Remus dropped Teddy as he fell; whatever had caught him was dragging him backwards towards the edge of the porch.
"PAPA! PAPA HELP! PAPAAAAA!" Remus screamed as loud as he could, his voice shrill and terrified. "PAPA!" he yelled one last time before his fingers scrabbled at the edge of the porch. There was nothing left to hold anymore, and suddenly Remus was flying through the air. The wolf had hooked his pant leg with one of his giant, yellow claws, and when Remus slid off the porch, he was hung upside down as the wolf stood on its hind legs, the claws of one massive paw gripping his pant leg. Remus opened his mouth to scream again when he came face to face with the beast of his nightmares, the golden eyes boring into his own.
Before he got a sound out, the wolf dropped him. Remus hit the ground so hard, his breath whooshed out, and he couldn't catch it back. Panting and panicked now, Remus tried to scramble for the stairs. He nearly made it, but the wolf lunged, sinking his sharp teeth into Remus's tattered pant leg. The wolf began backing up, dragging the struggling boy with him. Finally, Remus was able to suck in enough air to scream for his father again, but by then, the wolf was almost at the trees. Remus looked back at the wolf and pulled at his leg, desperate to get away, terrified of what was happening. He looked back to the house, desperately wishing for his Papa, and just before he was pulled into the trees, his heart leapt. PAPA! His Papa was coming. Remus yelled again "Papa, save me. Please Papa! PLEASE!" as he was dragged into the brush.
The wolf had noticed Lyall as well. It had been curiously quiet so far, but the moment Lyall hit the ground, the wolf began snarling. The sound terrified the small boy trapped in its jaws, who began crying earnestly. He heard his father coming; he could hear the curses and spells Lyall was yelling as he ran. Remus began to hope that he would be ok, that Papa would save him, and that this was all just a really bad dream. He looked through the trees, and could see flashes of light coming from Papa's wand as he got closer, and Remus cried out for him again. Papa was so close! Remus risked a glance back at the wolf when the pressure on his leg pulled away, and realized his Papa wasn't going to make it.
The wolf was poised above him, its jaws open, saliva dripping off its sharp teeth, snarling and growling as it watched the man get closer. When Lyall was close enough to see his son, the wolf's head came down. Remus watched, mesmerized, as the snout came closer, watched the jaws open wide and the teeth snap once before they sunk into his shoulder. The reaction was instant and excruciating. Remus screamed, the pain blooming in a white-hot blaze. He screamed and screamed as the teeth let go and pulled back. He screamed again as he watched the head descend a second time and by the time the teeth closed once more near his ribs, Remus had no breath left to scream. The last sight Remus had before his mind shut everything off was of his father, and the red sparks shooting out of his wand as he came, too late to save him.
"Everte Statum! Defrodio! Petrificus Totalis!" Lyall shouted curse after curse as he crossed the yard, flicking his wand with each one as he watched the werewolf savage his son. His heart was racing, and he felt it shatter as Greyback lifted his head a second time. His son's blood stained the wolf's mouth, and Lyall was so thrown by the sight that he stumbled. His last curse missed his target, and Greyback took advantage of Lyall's stumble to turn and run. By the time Lyall righted himself, the wolf was just barely visible.
The moon shone through a break in the trees, and as Lyall watched, Greyback stepped into it, howled loudly and snarled. The golden eyes met his, and Lyall would swear later that the wolf laughed. He launched one final Stupify hex that missed, and dropped to his knees beside his son. Lyall's heart was in pieces, and with one look at the boy, he turned and emptied his stomach into the grass. When he was done retching, he heard a crack among the branches littering the ground behind him.
"Hope! Don't come any closer. Please, don't. Let me… I can fix this. Let me fix it first. Please!" he begged, crying. Quickly, Lyall tore the shirt his son was wearing and set about staunching the blood with his wand. He conjured bandages and began to wrap them around Remus's torso. His shoulder was mangled so badly he could see bone, and the second bite under his ribs was deep and bleeding profusely. "Hope, I need to take him to St. Mungo's. He needs more help than I can give him." With a last glance at his wife, he scooped the boy into his arms and Apparated. The last thing he heard was his wife's cry as her son vanished.
Lyall and Remus arrived outside St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in London, and Lyall wasted no time. He burst through the window of Purge and Dowse and shouted for the healer. "I need help! My son has been attacked, he's only four! I need help!" His voice was hoarse after shouting curses at Greyback, and it took a few moments before someone arrived to help him. A floating stretcher was conjured and two more healers joined the first.
Soon, Lyall was left alone in the intake room as Remus was carted away for emergency treatment on the first floor. Lyall felt sick. His boy, his precious boy! After all the precautions he had taken, Greyback had still gotten his revenge. And Hope… Merlin, Hope! Lyall raced up to the first floor, hoping to see where they had taken Remus, but there was no one at the desk. He ran down the hall, shouting for the healer, and a small witch emerged from a room at the end of the corridor.
She met him at the door and said "Sir, I understand. Truly I do, but you must let us work. His bites are very deep, and very serious. He is still alive, but we need to try to keep him that way. I'm sorry. I need to you to wait out here." With a quick squeeze of his hand, the healer retreated and closed the door behind her.
Lyall was left alone in the hall, his arms empty, and his heart broken, ashamed of himself and worried for his son. He watched the shadows crossing behind the door through the glass and realized they wouldn't tell him anything any time soon. With one last look at the window, he turned and jogged back up the hallway. He went down to intake and out the window of Purge and Drowse. No one was around, so he said a quick prayer and Apparated back home, back to Hope. To this new life of parents to a werewolf, and that was only if Remus survived. "And if he doesn't?" Lyall's heart thumped and he brushed the thought away, too afraid to think anything but that his son would survive.
Lyall arrived with a loud crack, landing just outside the clearing near his home. He ran through the trees and bounded up the steps to the house shouting for his wife. "Hope! Hope, please love, I need you. Hope!" He pulled up short in the kitchen- Hope was sitting at the table. She looked dreadful. He could see that she'd had been crying. Her face was red and splotchy, and so many tears had fallen that there was a small pool in front of her. She wasn't crying now, though.
Instead, her face had taken on a sad sheen, her eyes unfocused, her breathing slow and regular. In her hands was Remus's blood-soaked shirt. She was gripping it tightly, so tightly that her hands were white-knuckled. Lyall stepped closer to her, reached out a hand and covered hers. Her fingers were cold as ice. She didn't register his touch, didn't acknowledge his presence in anyway. "Hope," he whispered. "Hope, darling. Hope?" He kept trying, keeping his voice soft and even, and caressing her hand with his as he spoke. Still she gave no sign that she even knew he was there. "Hope," he breathed. "Hope, I am so, so sorry. Oh Hope. Our boy! Hope, please," he begged, his voice going up several octaves, tears threatening to overwhelm him. Finally, she turned her head. Her eyes still had that slightly unfocused look to them, but eventually they settled on his face.
"This is your fault." The tone was so cold, so even, so dead, that Lyall's heart broke all over again. Hope didn't look at him again. She turned her face back to the shirt in her hands, and turned it over and over. The shirt was saturated in their son's blood, and her hands were stained red. Lyall tried to reach out to take it from her and her grip tightened. She didn't turn her head, refused to look at him, but she did speak again. "Don't you DARE touch his things! This is YOUR FAULT! My son is dead and it's YOUR FAULT!" The vehemence in her tone brought Lyall's head up sharply. "Remus is my son too, Hope, and he isn't dead. We need to go." Lyall's tone matched Hope's as he grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "We need to go; you need to hold on to me." Lyall led his wife outside to the edge of the clearing, put an arm around her, said a quick prayer to Merlin and Apparated back to London.
Travel in this way was new to Hope, who had previously refused to experience anything too wizard-like. Even so, she said nothing as they landed outside Purge and Dowse. She still hadn't looked at him, refusing to acknowledge his touch. Her shoulders were stiff and when Lyall reached out to place his hand on her back as they entered the storefront, she pulled away. Lyall felt the gulf between them, but had no idea how to bridge it. As they stepped through the entrance to St. Mungo's, he realized that he might not ever be able to. "This way, Hope. He's upstairs." Together, they stepped into the lift and went to see their son.