Chapter three:

I sat at the kitchen table whilst Remus made us both tea. It was August 31st and the following day we would be catching the train back to Hogwarts. I had settled in with Romulus and Remus and while I was still sharing Remus' room the boys had transfigured a mattress and blankets for me so Remus could have his bed to himself. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin had died when Remus was young, around the age of eight, so Romulus had taken over as Remus' legal guardian as soon as he had turned seventeen. I did not know the full story but I remembered that they had been moved to many different foster homes before that. Both boys were hopeless at cooking, so naturally I had emptied my Gringotts account and went shopping for groceries and a cookbook so I could earn my keep. They were both supremely pleased with my cooking abilities. I also helped clean when Romulus was out working. I wasn't exactly sure what he did but it seemed suspiciously like a hit-wizard. I could imagine him dressed in a tuxedo and pulling a gun on a bad guy. Maybe I was just fantasising. He did have the body for it I argued. Remus laughed when I told him my theory and suggested I stopped watching Bond movies.

Remus sat down and started staring at me from across the table. He knew I didn't like it when people stared at me so he had a habit of doing so. I was tempted to throw my steaming hot tea in his face and burn his eyes. I was quite violent sometimes. "Excited to go back?" he asked, pulling me from my fantasy of burning. I shrugged, it would be nice to see my friends but I didn't look forward with having to face my brother, who would no doubt tell my friends all about my running away. Sirius had run away earlier in the summer, I didn't want anyone to think I copied. Well actually that wasn't the reason but that's what I had told Remus to stop him from telling. The truth was; I was the strong one of the group, I didn't usually talk about my problems and I helped the others with theirs. If they found out I had issues they would freak out, try to make me talk about it and I would lose all composure. I didn't care it was this way, infact I preferred it, and my friends accepted my refusal. I had found myself this summer, however, confiding in Remus and James. Boys had an interesting way of seeing life; everything was simple and could be sorted out with a fight. Idiots, but it did work I'm sorry to say. They both swore to secrecy and naturally I didn't tell them anything too drastic.

Sirius' escape was a story I had yet to hear actually. The only news I had was when James came sprinting to my house, threw me over his shoulder and took me back to the potter manor to see Sirius grinning like an idiot as he watched James dump me in the pool. James and I had lived next door to each other for our whole lives. We were very close when we were kids but as we hit puberty we had grown apart. Now we were nearly best friends again. I forgave him for ditching me, after all boys had cooties.

"I guess." I sighed, "I'll miss this though." I said referring to the house and our company. I sipped my tea and placed it on the table. I felt a stab of white hot pain in my temple and my vision went black.

I had to wait a while for my sight to return but as soon as it did I felt myself plead for blindness. I was in the backyard of a house I did not recognise. The sky was a blanket of black except for the shining, white, full moon. It cast an eerie glow onto the grass and the trees whispered their secrets to each other. I saw a little boy sitting on the grass playing with a stick; he looked no older than seven. What he was doing outside at this time of night, I had no idea. A woman, tall with long chocolate brown hair stepped out onto the grass. "Remus," she called, "Time to come in, sweetheart." The boy on the grass turned his head to look at her, but just as he did a shadow slinked through the trees. Remus turned back the look into the trees and I saw a pair of large amber eyes staring back at him. I tensed with fear. "Remus?" his mother called again. The eyes moved forward becoming bigger, as they reached the moonlight I saw the beginning of a snout. The creature stalked forward confidently. Two ears followed the snout; a head; a thick, dark, fury neck; two huge, powerful front paws. The woman screamed and attempted to run forward and scoop up her child but the werewolf was too quick. I couldn't move, or even blink. I stood cemented in place as I watched the horrific scene unfold. The beast lunged and sunk its teeth into the child's chest. The woman screamed for her husband. He and another boy of eleven flew from the house and rushed towards the wolf. The beast flung Remus away from his family with one sift flick of its snout and leapt at the father. "Romulus!" the man cried, "See to your brother." The other boy ran to his injured sibling's side and began to weep. The wolf caught the father by the arm and flung him into the nearest tree. His neck made a deafening crack and his body went limp. The woman cried out in anguish. I felt sick, I couldn't watch any more but no matter how much I tried to pull myself out I couldn't stop the scene. The wolf next lunged at the mother, its muscles rippled and the moonlight cast a shimmering light on its pelt, and snapped her neck beneath his jaws. I could tell the were-wolf had no intension of eating the humans; he was purely there for the triumph of their death. The wolf sauntered towards the young boys and the eldest, Romulus, snatched up the stick his brother had been playing with not ten minutes earlier and beat the wolf across the snout. The wolf backed off and stalked back into the woods leaving the two boys with the bodies of their parents.

"Remus!" I screamed as the scene faded. I felt my heart pounding on the inside of my head. Someone was shaking me.

"Natalie? Natalie!" I looked up into Remus' face and burst into uncontrollable sobs. I tried to get my mind away from the vision, however I could still hear the cries of a woman who was having her worst fears become reality. I threw my arms around Remus, sobbing into his chest. I felt exhausted, but disgusted that I was thinking about myself at a time like this. There was no mistaking the boys in the vision, for one of them was letting me bawl into his chest. But obviously Remus had survived, I told myself. It was truly horrible, what happened to his parents, but he was alive never the less. Bang. It hit me. Remus had been bitten by a wolf on a full moon. A werewolf. My mind flashed back to my Defence Against the Dark Arts class I had the previous school year. Werewolves are only made when someone is bitten by the wolf, the curse is infected into the subject and they cannot reverse the affects. I am truly disgusted with myself at what I did next.

I pulled from his grip, a look of repulsion on my face and I ran. Away from the house, away from the creature inside. The logical side of me argued that he was still the same Remus and it only happened once a month. I, however was not strong enough to fight sixteen years of prejudice that had been drilled into me daily. I knew he would hate me for it and I despised myself for my feelings. I was in shock, I just kept running. My legs collapsed underneath me and I felt my knees hit the sharp rocks of the terrain; I felt my blood rush to the wounds and welcomed the pain. I deserved it, how could I turn my back on a friend because of something he could not control? What kind of person would judge someone like that? Obviously the rest of the marauders knew, they often went to see him off when he "left". They obviously accepted it straight away, knowing James I suspect he was rather nonplussed. I imagined the conversation would have gone something along the lines of;

Remus: "James I'm a werewolf."

James: "wicked." *Goes back to reading a Quidditch magazine.*

Boys.

I sat myself down on a rock and wallowed in self pity. Why would Remus not tell me something that affected such a huge part of his life? It was a part of him. I suddenly realised why he did not tell me; because he was afraid I would act just like I did. I had unconsciously just done what he had expected me to do. I was a horrible person. I had to go back and apologise to him. That meant telling him what I saw. But what did I see? I had no idea. Sure, it sounds cool if you say 'hey Remus I just had a really accurate vision of how your parents died.' Not great. I couldn't believe I didn't realise the truth about Remus before, I obviously wasn't nearly observant enough. The events in the vision kept replaying in my head; I heard the snap of their necks ringing in my ears. What the hell was happening to me? I hadn't been asleep so I couldn't have had a nightmare. The logical side of my brain was telling me that what I had seen had definitely been real, the crazy side of my brain was just laughing manically. My gut told me something bad was happening and it was only going to get worse. And oh how right I was.

I was deciding what to tell Remus when it started to rain. Stupid weather. I could tell him what I saw and either get admitted to St. Mungo's or sent to the crazy guy who taught divination at Hogwarts and who incidentally told me I was going to die this year, crack pot. No thanks. Or I could tell him I was really homesick and needed to be alone. Yay for option two! Also if I told him about the vision he would get really depressed and relive it all again. If I kept this secret to myself I would save a lot of trouble. Also my friends would have one less thing to worry about.

I was thoroughly drenched by the time I got back to the house. Remus was waiting at the door with a towel. There was no end to that buy's kindness, unless you stole his chocolate; then he would beat you to a bloody pulp. I muttered an excuse about homesickness and walked up to Remus' room.

If he wanted me to know his secret I decided it was up to him to tell me. If not, I would pretend I had no clue. But I reasoned, this went both ways, because now we both had something to hide.

oOo

A/N: heya! I got my very first review on my last chapter so special shout out to Kathy. I would really like to hear your feedback on the story and any questions you have regarding them, if they are confusing or not. My updating will be quite sporadic as I am no in year twelve so I will have ridiculous amounts of homework and study to be doing. So sorry about that.

So there's this little link just down there V and it says review this chapter. I would like you all to click on it and say whatever! Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn't. I'm not looking for an essay, just a brief passing comment

Until next time.