A/N just a warning here, RL/OC slash on the horizon but don't worry, it isn't a Mary-Sue! And just incase anyone was wondering, his name is pronounced with a hard C, like a K, remember, glowing reviews if it's not too much trouble!

It was in the May of his second year at Hogwarts that Remus Lupin met Caelan Cunningham.

He was a Slytherin sixth year; he was dark, Irish and ruggedly handsome. He wore his hair pushed back; he had a strong jaw, a chin dimple and deep green eyes. He was a prefect, and he played beater and captained the Slytherin Quidditch team and, as a result, had his nose broken in more than one place. He was slender but muscular, and tall; almost 6ft. He, a bit like Sirius, was one of the boys that all the girls fancied, when he walked into a room, everyone knew about it, partially through the boy's natural charisma, but mostly through any female who spotted him sighing dreamily and flushing bright red. He had fan clubs of first year girls that follow him round giggling and almost collapsing with joy when he flashed a flawless white smile and gave them a cheeky wink. Remus couldn't blame the fan girls; if he was a little stupider, a little less dignified and a bit younger he would be following Caelan round as well. Giggling, blushing and waiting for him to acknowledge his existence. But Remus wouldn't dare go near him. He was a Slytherin and Since the veritaserum incident, any Slytherin connected with Malfoy (so, most of them) he came across liked to try and hex Remus, or throw things at him, try and trip him up, call him a [insert preferred homosexual slur here], depending on what kind of mood they were in. Remus was sure he'd be dead from excessive hexing had he not been so good at defence against the dark arts. The attacks had helped him perfect a number of defensive spells; he'd even mastered the shield charm, something which even OWL students struggled with. He was just glad it was only Malfoy's cronies that picked on him now (they lacked a certain vindictive flare that Malfoy had had) since McGonagall had told Malfoy that if she ever caught him within a mile of Remus she'd turn him into a worm, tie him to an owl and have him flown home. Recently, Remus had been getting more and more worried that someone would discover he was a werewolf; one of the down sides of making friends was that now people actually noticed when he disappeared for an evening and was still gone the following morning. He just prayed they wouldn't notice new injuries and scars, or that he disappeared once every 28 days and only on the full moon. The lie he'd told Sirius about his ill mother would stick, as long as Sirius and James didn't notice a pattern. One afternoon, he'd entered his DADA class late, usually; he would have joined Sirius, Peter and James, who would ask him how his mum was, he'd reply with a sad smile "Not too bad", then Lily would run over from the other side of the class room and do the same, she would probably hug him and say "hand in there" or inspirational words to that effect. But today was not a usual day, today; Remus had walked into class with a huge gash across his right cheek. Madam Pomfrey had spent do much time healing a tricky multiple fracture in his wrist, that she didn't have time to heal the cut if Remus wanted to get to his DADA lesson. He'd rather sport the gash for a couple of hours than miss defence against the dark arts. Unfortunately he hadn't thought this decision through and was welcomed by a chorus of questions as to what the fuck he'd done to his face.

"My... broom, it... it hit me in the face when... I tried to use a... a erm... summoning charm! Yeah... I'm really shit at them and when I tried to call for my broom, it just hit me right in the face" he said, trying to feign embarrassment

"Christ Remus, that must be one sharp broom you've got" called James smirking

"Now class! Settle down and let Mr. Lupin be!" Snapped the professor "I believe I was half way through a sentence on Grindylow, now Grindylow are a..." Remus walked to his desk and sat between Sirius and Peter. Sirius got out a spare piece of parchment, tore a piece off and scribbled a note, he pushed it along the desk and left it in front of Remus, it read:

Seriusly (Sirius was a poor speller) what happened to your face? You can tell us.

Remus replied

It doesn't matter. He gave Sirius his best "Don't you dare ask why" look, Sirius wrote back

Okay, fine, how's your mum and why haven't you been to the hospital wing yet?

Remus thanked Merlin he took the hint

She's not good, but she's no worse than last time. I haven't been to the hospital wing yet because I was late getting back and I didn't want to miss the lesson on Grindylow, it's supposed to be very important. I'll do this lesson and potions and when the school day's finished, I'll go and see madam Pomfrey, okay?

Sirius didn't write back this time, he gave Remus an understanding smile and a thumbs up.

"This'll probably scar, you should've just let me heal it Remus" lectured Madam Pomfrey, she always made him feel so guilty, she didn't mean to of course but he always felt terrible that he turned up once a month, with about 10 broken bones and took up all of her time.

"I know, I just really wanted to get to the lesson on Grindylow, I heard it would be on the exam, I wanted to come back afterward but, I could hardly go to DADA and not turn up to potions! Slughorn would blow a gasket if he found out!" Remus gave her his puppy dog eyes, a look he'd mastered at the age of 3, if he used the eyes, no one could be angry with him.

"Oh alright, don't so the eyes, I understand, when I was doing my NEWTs I would've lost a leg before I missed a lesson" she smiled and ruffled his hair, she and Dumbledore were the only people at Hogwarts who knew Remus's secret, she deeply admired his bravery and always wondered how he managed to survive considering he was bitten so early on in his life. Usually if a child under 14 or 15 was bitten, they would bleed to death during their initial attack, or during their first transformation. The boy was basically a medial phenomenon.

"Thank for understanding Madam Pomfrey" he smiled his crooked smile

"Now run along, Misters Potter, Black and Pettigrew will be getting bored" Remus walked outside, to find Sirius and James slumped against an old stone statue of a rather stern looking healer, Remus jumped when the statue screech at the boys

"Your friend is here, now get off me!"

"Okay! Sorry" snapped James they stood up "Old bat"

"I heard that" shrieked the statue as they began to walk to Gryffindor Tower.

"Who gives a shit what you hear, you're a statue" huffed Sirius "How's your face mate?"

"It's healed, there's still a mark so Pomfrey thinks it might scar, where did Peter go?"

"We told him to clear off for a while"

"Oh, alright... Why?"

"Shit... Remus... look... mate, there's no way a broom could've done that to you" James began tentatively, looking apologetically at Remus. Remus's heart had begun drumming against his chest, his eyes flicked downward, it was pounding so hard and fast that his shirt had begun to move with his chest, he cleared his throat, which felt tight

"What... what are you suggesting?"

"Remus, just, just bear in mind, before I say this, that if it is true, it doesn't matter and...And er... it's not your fault... we know with your mum being ill and stuff that it must be hard on your family. Well, you've got a lot of scars... and this new cut it's just like... every time you go home, more scars" James swallowed nervously "well... erm... have... has... erm are you..." Sirius rolled his eyes and cut across an anxious, sweaty James

"Remus, has your Dad been hitting you?" Remus had thought he was going to be sick. He thought they'd guessed, he sighed with triumphant relief as his heart beat returned to normal. What did he say now? His dad hitting him could be the perfect excuse for his looking awful every time he "went to visit his Mum", the fact that he always came back with a couple of new scars & bruises and the perfect explanation for why he didn't want to talk about it, if he said yes, they'd probably never ask him anything about his absences again, but what if they tried to tell someone about it, in a desperate attempt to save Remus from the clutches of his violent father, he wasn't sure he wanted people to think his Dad would hurt him either, he was a sweet man, if a little stoic and pragmatic. He decided the best thing to do, would to be to give an answer that only suggested a yes. Remus put on his best "oh no, I've been rumbled" face before answering

"What? I... NO! He... I... maybe... oh never mind, I'm going to the library" he turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could to the library. His feelings of guilt for lying, slightly outweighed by his happiness. His secret was safe for another few days at least. Remus wondered how his friends would react if they found out he was a werewolf he imagined them accepting it, them covering for him if anyone asked where he had gone, he then imagined the response he'd been told to expect if anyone found out. Fear, hate, maybe even a lynching if they were feeling aggressive enough. He couldn't blame witches and Wizards for being so prejudice towards werewolves, there were a lot of werewolves that didn't take any precautions when they transformed, that simply killed and maimed for sport. He wondered if the wolf that bit him had any control over himself at the time, if he had regrets, if he woke up that morning and thought, "Bollocks, I ruined a little boy's life last night". Without even noticing, Remus had reached the Library, he stopped running, and strode to his favourite corner (nonfiction, between the T and U bookcases, by a window with a comfy chair) and sat down to catch his breath. He picked up the nearest book, Basic Trollish: Ugg, aag and Owag! And pretended to read.

It was moments later that he spotted Caelan Cunningham; he walked past him leaving the library with a group of friends, mostly Slytherin but a few Ravenclaw, he watched him walk by, laughing, flashing every one of his perfect white teeth. His eyes wandered from his friends around the library, he briefly made eye contact with Remus, who quickly went back to pretending to read.

"Shit! I've left my essay, you guys go ahead and meet you in the common room later" Remus loved his accent, coupled with his deep lulling voice; Remus imagined he could listen to him for hours. Caelan turned around and walked back in the direction he came from, while his friends gave a chorus of goodbyes as they exited. As soon as they were gone Caelan poked his head round the T book case.

"Hey! Are you, Remus Lupin?" Remus jumped, not expecting to be disturbed by anyone, let alone Caelan Cunningham

"Err... yeah?" he swallowed a giggle before remembering his previous encounters with Slytherins "Look, if you want to hex me or tell me I'm a disgusting fag or something, I'm not in the mood right now, so if you could just..."

"No! No! No! I don't want to do anything like that, not that I want to do anything, ha... uh... no I was just going to apologise on the behalf of a lot of the members of my house, it's kids like them that give Slytherin a bad name, you know? We're not all like that, and if I see any one come near you with a wand raised, or call you a name or anything I will personally hex them back to next Tuesday"

"Really?" Remus felt himself turning redder than Malfoy's favourite silky undies "You would... you're not" he swallowed "er... pulling my leg or anything?"

"No honestly, I think they're a bunch of evil malicious bastards to attack someone as, quiet and smart and... cute as you, you're an easy target you know?"

"Yeah, thanks"

"I'm Caelan Cunningham by the way"

"I know" they talked for a while, Caelan seemed like a nice guy, not like any Slytherin he'd met before, he came and sat down next to Remus, Remus's heart started pounding again, he wondered if Caelan could hear it, his heartbeat rung in his ears so loud he could barely hear himself think, not that his thoughts were any help, all they said was He's talking to you! And he said you were cute! Don't fuck up! You're going to fuck up aren't you!? Caelan asked him about his lessons, about his friends and about books, Remus felt guilty for the conversation only being about him, so he faked an interest in Quidditch and flying. It seemed like such a short while but then Caelan looked at his watch.

"Christ! We've been chatting for over an hour" he laughed "Time flies when you're having fun eh?" Remus giggled. Oh God... he let himself giggle

"Yeah, yeah it does"

"Well, my friends will be worrying about me, I was only meant to be picking up an essay"

"Where is your essay? I didn't see you pick anything up"

"Oh, well, I didn't really leave it, I just wanted to talk to you" Remus thought he could see stars "I've really enjoyed talking to you Remus"

"You have?"

"Yes! Do you know where the Room of Requirement is?"

"No..."

"Well, I'll tell you where it is, and you can meet me there at... say... 11 and we can talk a little more"

"Okay!" Caelan wrote down directions to the Room of Requirement, he ruffled Remus's hair and got up, winking and smiling

"See you later"

As soon as he was out of sight Remus slid down in his chair panting... "Hang on" He thought, "did I just... pull Caelan Cunningham?"

Remus had never felt amazed, appalled and aroused all at the same time...

*

James and Sirius were left standing in the corridor as Remus sped away mumbling something about the library.

"I knew it! His bastard father's been beating him up!" Sirius felt furious, he wanted to break something! How dare Remus's dad lay a hand on his friend, how fucking dare he!

"Sirius, we don't know that for sure, he did say he wasn't" James looked worried but sceptical

"Are you joking?! Of course he's going to say his Dad hasn't hit him! He's trying to protect him, the noble idiot, if I could get my hand on him, right now, I'd... I'd... Use the Cruciatus Curse on him!"

"Sirius!" James looked around like Aurors would come crashing through the ceiling at the mention of any unforgivable curse

"Well! Have you ever seen Remus with his shirt off! Have you seen the amount of scars he has! No wonder he doesn't like being touched! I wouldn't be surprised if that cunt hadn't used the Cruciatus Curse on Remus already! I am so angry... poor Remus..." he and James began walking, they walked past a huge window, the sky was clear and the stars twinkled, the moon was almost full. James had stopped dead in his tracks

"What?" asked Sirius James was standing his mouth hanging open, his eyes bulging with... fear?

"What is it? James?"

"... was... was it a full moon last night?"

"What? James? Why is that relevant?"

"Just answer me, was the moon full last night?"

"yes, I think so, James I don't understand" James wasn't listening, he pulled his DADA book out of his bag and flipped to the section on Dark Creatures, he then flicked a few more pages, before stabbing his finger on one and mumbling erratically

"Sirius! You notice stuff like this... erm what colour are Remus's eyes?"

"Ambery, goldy sort of colour" His eyes widened even more "James what the fuck?"

"Don't ask questions, just answer them, okay" he was frantic, almost manic, Sirius almost felt too frightened to disagree with him

"Okay..."

"Would you say Remus disappeared as regularly as once a month?"

"Yeah, I suppose"

"Okay, does Remus get more aggressive before his disappearances?"

"Yeah, he practically bit my head off yesterday for no good reason, and he never usually snaps no matter how annoying I'm being"

"And he always looks all pale and he looks skinnier when he comes back, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, and he's normally hurt, because of his fucking dad"

"I don't think his Dad is hurting him Sirius"

"What!? He obviously is!"

"No... I think Remus is hurting himself"

"James... What the fuck are you getting at? Why are you looking at your DADA book!?" He pulled the book down; he was looking at the section on werewolves "Oh no... No... You're being stupid"

"Just think about it Sirius, all the evidence is there! For Christ's sake even his eyes are the right colour, have you ever met anyone else with gold eyes Sirius" He couldn't answer "Well? Have you?"

"NO! Alright NO! I just... I" he couldn't think of what to say... there was nothing else that could explain it, when he thought about it, the last time Remus disappeared, it was a full moon too and the time before that "... you're right James... it's... he's... fuck... what do we do, is he, is he... dangerous?"

"Sirius... who's the most balanced none violent person we know?"

"Remus"

"Do you think he'd ever try and hurt us?"

"No... Not deliberately any way"

"Maybe that's why he disappears... so he can go somewhere safe to transform... so he won't hurt anyone"

"Why did he lie to us for all those months?"

"Oh Come on Sirius! You know how people treat werewolves, I'm amazed he even got into Hogwarts" "You're right, if I was a werewolf, I sure as hell wouldn't tell anyone... hey! Do you think Dumbledore knows? I mean... Madam Pomfrey must..."

"Instead of guessing, why don't we just go up to our dorm and wait until Remus comes back, we'll ask him then"

"Should we warn Peter?" asked Sirius, the panic on his face had been replaced with a smile

"Ha! No! Imagine the look on his face"