'A monster. Just a monster.'

'Charlie, don't say that! You're not a monster; you're my little Charlie cub. You always have and always will be.'

'Apart from on the full moon. Then I'll be a monster. A murderous animal.'

Charlie's face was a pale and contorted with pain.

'I am daddy. I am.'

'Cub, please. Don't say these things. You're not. I am, I'm the one who did this to you.'

'Can't change that now. I'm like you. A werewolf.'

Tears of guilt and emotional pain ran down Remus' face. This was all his fault, he thought, all his fault. He had made his son a monster for the rest of his life. He should never have let him stay in the house, even when Dumbledore said he would be fine.

'I can't tell you how... How extremely s- sorry I-I-I am. I'm so sorry Charlie. I'm so sorry cub. Please forgive me?'

Charlie looked Remus straight in the eye, a vacant expression on his face. They sat in silence for what seemed like forever.

'Ok.' Charlie whispered.

Remus' face coloured a smudge. He went to hug Charlie but stopped when he felt Charlie shudder from crying. Remus went to look Charlie in the eye and saw he had tears pouring down his face, silent tears.

Guilt intermingled with depression filled Remus. It was his fault, all his fault, and Remus hated himself for it.

The hospital wing was dark and silent apart from Charlie's laboured breathing. Remus sat in silence listening to Charlie, his cub, sleeping. Tears streamed down Remus' face, he watched Charlie in the darkness. He sat there for who knows how long until his sensitive ears picked up Charlie's night time mumblings.

'Santo your fault... No its not... Daddy? Where are you?... Love you... I don't... No...' Remus almost had to physically restrain himself from grabbing Charlie up into his arms and hugging him. Instead he gripped the side of his seat and sat there perched on the edge waiting for more.

~~~~~The dream that Charlie is having~~~~~

Charlie walked down a long dark corridor, ears listening keenly for any movement. Charlie heard scuffling in a room further down the corridor, the door was slightly open and a shaft of light came through the slit. Charlie opened the door and poked his head through into the room, in the middle of the room was his daddy sitting in the centre of the room. He looked haggard and too skinny, Charlie walked over and Remus looked up sharply. His face was scarred and had tears mingling with the bruises in his face.

' 'Lo Charlie.'

'Hi dad, why are you here?'

'So I don't hurt you. So I never hurt you again.' Remus looked away.

'Hurt me? Dad, you'll hurt me more if you leave me. It's not your fault. It wasn't your fault that the potion didn't work.'

'Charlie, of course it is! Of course it is! I've ruined your life! ' he said, his voice hoarse.

'No, it's not. Daddy of course it's not.'

Remus ran out of the room and down the dark corridor, lights flickered and a strong wind blew down the path.

'Daddy? Where are you? Daddy!?'

Charlie panted as he tried to find Remus.

'Daddy! Where are you? I still love you, I don't care!' he shouted.

'Well, you should' a voice sounded from down the corridor.

'Well, I don't so...'

'It's for your own good.'

'No. Dad no.'

'I'm sorry Charlie. I'm so sorry, I can't do this to you.'

'Daddy, I love you no matter what.'

The scene changed...

'Stand aside... Stand aside you silly girl.'

'Not Charlie, anything but Charlie! Please!'

A cold cruel laugh...

'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

Back in the hospital wing:

Charlie thrashed about his covers, his arms flailing and his body contorted in pain.

'Mummy! No...' Charlie whimpered.

Remus froze in shock, unsure of what to do. Charlie was shaking violently, moaning something unintelligible. He woke with a start, he hand clapped against his forehead.

'Charlie, cub? You alright?' Remus asked anxiously.

'Yeah, it was nothing... I'm fine.' he replied with a non-committal shrug.

'You didn't seem it. Anything you want to talk about?' Remus probed.

'Nah, just a nightmare. Just a lot of green light-'

Remus visibly paled.

'Green light... Green- ' he mumbled.

'Yeah, I'm used to it now. I'm going back to sleep, I'm tired. I'll talk to you in the morning... Love you daddy.' Charlie whispered as he closed his eyes and fell to sleep on the pillow.

Remus sat there in the darkness for hours, watching Charlie, thinking about what he was going to do, how he could help. Remus paced frantically, so much so that he was starting to wear down the carpet, until he had a realisation. A bad one at that. He couldn't do anything, Charlie had lycanthropy. He couldn't change that; he could hide it and make it a secret, but nothing else. He would make it a secret, a well-kept secret. Remus knew what to do, what he had done and lived. It wouldn't make life easier unless he became a teacher of some sorts, but at least he would have friends.

THIS NEXT SECTION IS A BIT OF FLUFF AND GENERAL SNAPE BASHING! He's an ok guy, but the idea came into my head and so I wrote it down...

Snivellus- sorry did I write that? I meant Severus Snape's rather discriminative POV:

The wolf was back. Ergh, how did Dumbledore ever allow a monster like him in? And now the wolf has a son, or should I say, cub? I laughed at my own wit. Sometimes I feel it goes to waste on these dunderheads, especially that oaf, Hagrid. I had been called to the infirmary for some elusive reason by Dumbledore, it seemed that he needed my assistance in some task, personally, I would just get one of his lackeys to do it, but no, it must be me, the cold, dreaded potions master, the bat of the dungeons, the greasy git.

I pushed open both the double doors and strode into the infirmary, my cloak billowing behind me. Being cold and dreaded has few perks, but being able to billow your cloak is one of them. I saw a group of people huddled around one bed, the headmaster and the wolf being two of them, I sneered at them, what could possibly be so important as to need me? I was very happy prowling around the dungeons!

'Well, well, well, what have we here?' I said sardonically. The wolf span round to face me, his eyes were red and blotchy, his robes were wet down the front and he had a tissue in his hand.

'What do you want?!' he spat.

'I was admiring the view. What does it look like? I'm here because of our kind headmaster's invitation.' I said with my trade mark sneer.

'Please Remus; do not get too upset, lest Severus finds himself with some vital organs, for example, his head. Severus, do not antagonise him, he has just had some bad news.'

'What has he got fleas?' I smirked.

'NO! You ANIMAL! YOU SLIMY SNAKE! MY SON HAS GOT LYCANTHROPY! YOU GOT THAT!? Or do you want me to demonstrate?' he seethed, his hands clenched into fists, 'I'm sure it could be arranged.'

'Dad, it's fine, I'm sure the bat can't help it!' came a feeble voice from behind the others, I walked to see who the new monster was, he was a replica of the older wolf.

'So you've found your wolf side eh?'

'Yes I have,' he said pleasantly, 'Can I help you?'

'No, I was just thinking of how much you are like your father… Thank you for stopping him, I do value my head.'

'I didn't stop him for your sake Snivellus,' he spat, 'I don't want my dad to go to Azkaban, I personally think you would deserve it after all you've done. What with the discrimination and all. I've heard about how much you hate werewolves!'

'You ungrateful brat! How dare you insult me! I'm your superior!'

'Because you are human? Nice try, how's the tattoo going? No pains recently?' How did he know? I clamped my hand on my left arm.

'You told him?!' I said in a deadly voice.

Wolf Sr. stared at me wide eyed, 'No, I didn't! Swear I didn't! I don't know how he knows!'

'Oh come on guys! You can literally feel the dark magic leaking! It's like a dripping tap!' the little monster said knowingly.

'Right. And you know that feeling how?' I threw at him.

'I just do. Like the fact that you reek of dark magic, but the magic on your arm isn't your own, it's someone three times your power's!' I hurled myself at the boy ready to wring his neck but I found myself stopped by an invisible force.

'Come one step closer and I will have to hurt you,' he said quietly.

'Now come one Charlie, no threatening!' said Albus jovially. HOW COULD HE JUST LET THAT GO BY?!

'I wasn't threatening,' I spluttered at his stupidity, 'I was telling the truth.' That shook me to the bone, it practically was a dark lord in miniature.

'Now now, you're just anxious from the bite, you'll settle down soon.'

If only.

'Dad, when are Fred and George arriving?' Charlie asked from his bed, he had the defence text book for fourth years spread open on his lap, I don't know how he understood it, or even did some of the magic - I had seen various spells flying across the infirmary when he thought no one was looking.

'Ten minutes Molly said, now remember, don't say something you're not sure about, for example, if you want to tell them yet.'

'Yes dad,' Charlie said in a bored tone, 'I won't, I'll probably tell them when they work it out, because then they'll have to approach me, so they'll be ready for the possible answer, like you did.' I smiled at him, I had spent the past day telling him about stories from Hogwarts to try and make him feel a bit better about himself and his situation.

'You are so relaxed about this all, it's weird! Why aren't you FREAKING OUT?!' his laid back approach to having some of his best friends visit after being bitten was mind boggling!

'Should I be?' he smirked.

'YES! No! I don't know!' I said in confusion, he smiled at me as if had some knowledge that I didn't know about, 'so how ARE you so calm?'

'Well, basically, I make myself look relaxed and use a small amount of Occlumency and the rest is just a straight face, on the inside I'm actually dying of fear.' the poor thing! I can now understand how he is acting how he is, I was the same in the weeks after, but that all changed after my first transformation and then it set in and I became much more quiet about it... Maybe I should hug him now? I really should, but would he want that? Who cares - apart from him? I am anyway!

I pulled him into a hug and ruffled his messy hair, since he had realised that he could change his appearance he had made his hair what I call and 'organised mess', well originally just 'mess' but then I realised it had a sense of order to it, small that it be.

'You don't have to worry about telling them anything... Not today.' I whispered to him.

'Thanks daddy,' he looked up at me, his eyes becoming watery and lost, 'can you stay with me?' he said so quietly that I'm sure the average human wouldn't have been able to hear it.

'Yes,' I nodded profusely, 'yes, of course I will.' He looked so lost and vulnerable, he was so small in the large white bed he sat on, his skin was healed but the tip of a crescent scar was visible through the top of his t-shirt. I knew though that his skin would become even more marred as his life went on. It was inevitable. As we sat in comfortable, pensive silence, I just listened to the sounds of the castle, the steps in the infirmary office, Charlie's heart beat, our breathing, steps coming into the hospital wing! Dumbledore was speaking to someone outside,

'Just wait here for a second please, I would like to check that he is -decent and ready for visitors,' he stepped inside the infirmary and softly shut the door behind him, he wore a small smile and had his usual twinkle in his eye.

'I see that you are decent, but are you ready? The twins are outside along with Molly Weasley, I think it would be best if Charlie and you and the twins came in first, I shall make pointless chit chat with Molly until you are ready for them to leave. Is that acceptable for you?' he said softly. Charlie was looking at him in a contemplative sort of way, like he was reading him, like he was checking him for anything bad.

'That is fine, thank you headmaster. You ready to see the twins, cub?' Charlie nodded quickly, he was shaking with excitement and what I guess were nerves.

'I shall fetch the boys,' he said, sweeping out the room with a wink, seconds later in burst two excitable red heads.

'CHARLIE!' they said loudly, running towards the bed, I winced at the loud footfalls and voices, I was still sensitive from the full moon.

'Fred, George!' Charlie said with glee.

'What's wrong?' the twins started their question time, their enquiries in quick succesion.

'Are you ok?' a pause.

'Do you want some chocolate frogs?' the rest of us looked at Fred in incredulation.

'Well, we did get you some!' he said sheepishly, holding out a pack of frogs, from what I could see, the twins' pockets were stuffed full of the things.

'Yeah, we did! We weren't sure if you'd want any, but we figured if you did, you could.' George fished out some packs as well and dumped them by Charlie's feet.

'Wow,' Charlie said quietly, 'thanks guys!'

'So Charlie, what is actually wrong with you?'

'Mum said you were in an accident, but she didn't say what.' Charlie's face paled dramatically and he looked at me in a silent plea for help.

'He smashed up his arm a bit,' I interjected, saving Charlie from having to lie, instead, I did, 'but, he's pretty much fine now, just recovery and stuff from blood loss,' the twins looked satisfied at that answer.

'Cool!'

'We always knew that our partner in crime was a daredevil.' Charlie smirked at that.

'You know me, always the dangerous one,' he didn't know how right he was, we are dangerous, very dangerous, one mistake and-

'So, any pranks you've made?' Fred asked.

'Yeah, but they're not for dad's ears.' the twins looked at each other and then back at Charlie, they had mischievous faces on.

'Your secret-'

'Is safe-'

'With us-'

'Partner!'

I got so scared sometimes by their plotting. So very scared. Conversation carried on like this until Molly walked into the room, gave me the 'evils' as Charlie called them, gave sympathetic looks at Charlie and then ushered the twins out the room, leaving Dumbledore standing in the centre of the room, a confused Charlie and an mildly annoyed me. She never could get over the fact I was a werewolf, and now she seemed to have transferred her annoyance slightly over to Charlie, hang on, what was up with the sympathetic look she gave Charlie? Dumbledore hadn't told her? Had he? Because if he had-

'She is none the wiser of Charlie's condition. Thankfully! I can't imagine it would be very advantageous on the boys' friendship! I do try to convince her that it isn't an issue, but some things run too deep. However, I feel that may change with your son's friendship, perhaps old prejudice can be abolished? For when we stand together and in unity, we can overcome the hardships of the few. And the few just happen to be you two young men!' he said in his usual annoyingly cryptic he not just say it straight? Well, it certainly does give you food for thought.

'Well, that IS a relief!' I sighed, Charlie's skin coloured a bit after paling yet again at the look of Molly and my face.

'Dad, when can we leave?' Charlie tugged on my sleeve.

'You can leave tomorrow my boy as long as you have the all clear!' Dumbledore said kindly, he must know the discrimination that Charlie would face, but he didn't know the half of it. Charlie's face brightened dramatically and his hair turned blue for a fraction of a second. I had learnt from observation that blue meant happy, red annoyed/ angry, green anxious and purple, well purple I haven't fully worked out yet.

Night fell quickly and morning came even quicker.