Lyall and Hope hadn't seen their son so happy since he was a toddler, a carefree toddler who had never known suffering. Every hour of the day Remus would be following Lyall around the house, bombarding him with questions about Hogwarts. Even the approaching full moon did little to damp Remus's spirits, and when Hope went up to his bedroom to fetch him down for dinner the night before the full moon she found him sitting on his bead once again reading over his letter, though he must have read it so many times by now that had it memorised.

By about halfway through his dinner Remus was struggling.

"Try to eat as much as you can dear," said Hope.

Remus nodded and ate another mouthful of mashed potato and peas.

Hope hated this, every month watching her son grow sick and knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it. Though of course this was nowhere near as bad as sitting up all night on the night of the full moon while her baby screamed and howled in the cellar bellow. Lyall always cast a silencing charm over the cellar of course, but Hope could hear him anyway, she could hear him in her head. And then the next morning she and Lyall would open the cellar door, make their way down the stone steps and find their son lying broken and bleeding on the floor. It was something no mother should have to go through. And it was something Remus should not have to go through either.

"I'm full," said Remus, bring Hope back to the present.

"That's okay Remus," said Lyall, "you did pretty well, why don't you ask Mum to read to you for a bit while I do the dishes?"

This was part of the routine they went through every month. By now Remus was more than old enough to read to himself, but on the days where he was ill and tired Hope would sit and read to him on the sofa after dinner while Remus lent against her, listening in silence, feeling the warmth of his mother's body and drawing what strength and safety he could from it.

After Lyall had finished cleaning up after dinner he came in and sat with them in equal silence, listening to his wife's voice and watching his son's pallid face as his eyelids began to droop. By the time Hope had finished the chapter Remus was barely awake.

"Early night for you young man I think," said Lyall, as Hope marked the page and put the book down on the table.

Remus "mmm"ed in assent but made no movement away from his mum. Hope could felt his forehead.

"He's very hot Lyall," she said quietly.

"I'll get some water," said Lyall, and he once again disappeared off to the kitchen, returning not only with a glass of water but also with a thermometer he had charmed years ago to work almost instantly instead of taking an age to reach the correct temperature as the muggle ones did.

Remus opened his mouth obediently and held it under his tongue. The liquid inside shot up and then stopped. Hope read off the temperature.

"One hundred and one," she said.

"Not too bad," said Lyall.

"D'you want to sleep in with us tonight?" Hope asked Remus.

"It's fine," said Remus, shaking his head, "I'll sleep in my bed."

"You know even though you're a big boy now you can still come and sleep in with us when you're feeling poorly," said Lyall.

"I'll sleep in my bed," said Remus determinedly.

Hope put Remus to bed and then came back downstairs where Lyall was sitting reading the Daily Prophet. He put it down immediately as his wife came in.

"Remus asleep?" he asked.

Hope nodded.

"Out like a light," she said, "I suppose he will have to start getting used to sleeping in his own bed if he's going to be going to Hogwarts."

"Mmm," said Lyall.

"D'you think he'll be alright Lyall?"

"He'll be in the hands of a trained Healer, that's something we can't give him."

"My mind will certainly be more at ease once I've met her."

"Mine too. I'll owl Dumbledore after the full moon."

"Are we doing the right thing Lyall? Letting him go?"

"He'll get a better education at Hogwarts than he could anywhere else."

"But what if he's unhappy there? What if he wants to come home when he's sick? What if the other children find out? What if they hurt him? What if he escapes?"

Lyall said nothing.

"Oh come on Lyall! You must be worried about him too!"

"Of course I am! Of course I worry about all of those things. I'm as confused and scared as you are Hope. I never thought he'd be allowed to go to Hogwarts. I never thought we'd have to make any decisions like this, I thought everything had been decided for us when I was stupid enough to insult Fenrir Greyback!"

Lyall got up and started pacing, a habit which always got on Hope's nerves.

"Well, we should be happy then shouldn't we," she said, not sure whether she was trying to convince herself or her husband, "we should be grateful we've got a choice in the matter."

"A choice we're totally unprepared for!" exclaimed Lyall, "And now Remus's all excited about it... I don't have the heart to tell him he can't go Hope, I couldn't do it."

"He deserves it," sighed Hope, "God knows he deserves to be happy and excited about something for once."

"He's already going to hate me enough as it is when he finds out it was all my fault he was bitten."

"We can always bring him back home if he's unhappy there, or if his transformations get too bad."

By now Hope and Lyall were each definitely speaking more to themselves than to one another. They continued to spiral deeper and deeper down into their own tangled thoughts until a cry from upstairs snapped them back to their wits. They both hurried up the stairs and into Remus's bedroom, where their son was sitting up in bed, sweating, shaking and tangled up in his blankets.

"There there sweetie, it's okay, it was only a dream," said Hope, kneeling down beside Remus's bed and enfolding her son in her arms, "shh, it's okay, I'm here, we're both here, it's alright."

"I... bit... you," whispered Remus between choking sobs as he held onto his mother as tight as he could, burying his face in her chest.

"No you didn't honey, there there, it's okay."

Hope knelt there rubbing Remus's back until he had stopped sobbing and was breathing normally again. By now these nightmares were just another part of the routine.

"D'you want to come and sleep in with me and Dad?" Hope asked again.

This time Remus nodded. Lyall picked him up and carried him into the big bedroom and lay on the bed next to him while Hope brushed her teeth and got into her pyjamas, then Hope got into bed and Lyall did the same. Finally they were all in bed and Lyall turned off all the lights in the house with a wave of his wand. Remus lay between them.

"Can I really go to Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Of course you can," said Hope, catching her husband's eye in the darkness.

"Of course," said Lyall.