John Lupin bolts up in bed. "Mary, whas' that? Didjou hear that?"
She is sitting up, too, looking ghostly and thin. "Yes, yes. I...I think it was screaming."
"Where's Remus?" John yells. "Remus! Remus, c'mere!"
They wait a moment for the pattering of feet down the hall, but hear nothing. John throws off the covers and races down the hall to his son's room. The window is open, the grey curtains fluttering in the night breeze. "Bloody fuck!"
He runs back into the bedroom, grabbing his wand from the bedside table. Mary is crying. "The bastard came and got him. You stay here."
She nods quickly as the sobs begin to wrack her body. Greyback has come into my home, she thinks, and he has taken my son. "God, help Remus. Please."
John is outside yelling when he hears the screams again; they are coming from the creek. He tears across the open field, the cold air of the night hitting his bare chest and arms, his wand threatening to snap from the pressure he's holding it with. I'm coming, he tries to speak, but merely thinks between gritted teeth. I'm coming Remus.
He is near the creek and he can hear wailing by the swings. He gathers his energy and adrenaline and bounds to the swings. He gasps when he arrives.
"Pop, Pop, she's no' movin'-she's no' movin'," Remus whimpers, curled up beside a little girl in a white cotton nightgown. He gingerly puts a hand to her shoulder, shaking her. "Sadie, wake up, please! Wake up!"
"Remus! Are you hurt?" John bellows, stooping down to his son. He tries to pull him away from the girl, but Remus rears back and screams, returning himself to her side. "Remus..."
"Pop, she's hurt! Fix 'er!" he yells desperately. He sits up and grabs John's wand hand. "Use it! Fix 'er! Make 'er better! Pop, she's no' movin'! Sadie! Please, Pop! Fix 'er!"
Remus collapses in sorrow into his father's lap and John's own vision is blurry with wetness. He tries to place a finger to the little girl's neck, but there's not much left of it. He cannot stop the yelp that spills from his throat.
"Pop!" Remus yells, clutching the wand. "Use it! Or-or-or, I'll use it!"
Remus rips the wand from his father's hands and begins swinging it at the slump of a body on the ground. "Work! Work! Please, do magic! I know y'can!" He is shaking with fear and anger and a thousand other emotions as the hot tears drench his face, the swish of the wand slicing the air. "Bloody 'ell, work!"
John ignores his son's cursing and stands swiftly, scooping his son up in his arms. "Remus, son, look at me. She's...she's gone. We can't save her." His son's face is bewildered, his jaw hanging open, water leaking from the corners of his eyes. "We...we 'afta to see if y'hurt."
"'E bit me, but she's more hurt'n me! Please, Pop, we need t'help 'er!"
"Oh, God," He touches Remus's shoulder, and there it is. A raw, bleeding bite. His heart stops. "Come, now. To the house."
He is trembling as he runs his yowling son back into the house. Remus is hanging over his father's shoulder, screeching into the night, his pleas and laments fading from her as he disappears into the twinkling dew of the farm grass. Soon, they are no more than a mirage.
"Love y'Sadie, I love you! Please, I love you..."