Hide Or Run
(AN: Can't believe hundreds of you read this story each week! Follow for more updates! Also, Just so everyone is aware. In 1996, the full moon in November happened at the end of the month, one day before Thanksgiving, for the purpose of our story I've moved that date up by about 10 days or so)
Remus gasped audibly as he woke up on the forest floor. It was minutes from dawn, Remus assumed it was probably around 5 in the morning. He looked around, at his surroundings and himself. He was damp and dirty, and cold. It was demoralizing.
But, certainly not all together something that was foreign to him by any means. Remus had discovered over the past three and a half months the he was actually one of the pack members who had been a werewolf the longest.
He had used this to his advantage within the pack, and had started to offer help to those who had been werewolves for far less time. This actually opened a lot of doors for him, and helped him form trust with others in the pack.
The wonderful and fair weather of September had quickly faded away within the last few weeks, and the encampment had grown much colder.
Remus carefully got to his feet, and went to fetch the clothes he had laid out for himself.
This has become part of his routine for the last four full moons. Dumbledore had supplied him with several months of the wolfsbane potion to help him keep his mind clear even while in wolf form. But, he hadn't been using it, he had secretly been giving it to Alfie instead. Who, thankfully had started to trust him more. Remus knew this was risky, and that transforming near the other wolves with no ability to control himself could be dangerous. But, he wanted Alfie to be safe instead. Each month, he was magically sealing off a small cave for Alfie to transform in. He had intended to use the cave for himself, but felt the little boy needed it far more than he did.
He was much safer away from the other full grown wolves of the pack that way.
Remus had been stationing himself close by the cave so that way Alfie would catch glimpses of him throughout the night, he didn't want the little boy to think he was all alone. He had been putting up charms to keep himself in one particular area, hoping that would also keep the others away from him. which appeared to be working. Remus could never take a chance that he could wander off or get into a fight with another werewolf and off the wolfsbane potion a charm to keep him a certain area was the only choice.
There was also a small wizard village a mile or so away, so that was also why he'd made the decision ultimately. There was zero room for error now.
Remus dressed himself quickly, and undid the charms on the area around him and Alfie.
He made sure that no one else watched him do this, knowing it would incite questions. The rest of the pack always transformed together and he didn't want to look like he was not also doing this.
Remus walked over to the entrance of the cave to check on Alfie and found him asleep at the cave entrance. The little boy was filthy, but aside from a few minor scratches on his hands and feet he appeared fine. the terrain there wasn't favorable and easily tore at the feet and hands during the full moon. Remus had blood all over his feet.
Remus sighed, and decided to go rinse the night off of himself, before he had to do it all over again next month. It was like he had been contaminated and needed to purge himself f any evidence of the nights events.
But, Alfie needed to sleep, so he left him behind sleeping in the cave. The boys arm had almost completely healed now. Well, as much as it would ever heal. The little boy, like he. Would forever be marked by his scars. Inside, and outside.
Remus shuffled over to the nearby stream. He gasped as the chilled water hit his sore and painful feet. For a few seconds he just stood there, letting the cold numb his pained feet. He waved his wand over his feet and most of the scrapes and scratches vanished. He quickly stripped down to his underwear, washed his body off in the icy water, dried himself and then redressed. He bent down at the water's edge to splash some water into his dry mouth, and scrubbed at his nails which always got horribly dirty during his transformations.
A sound beside him made him turn. It was one of the women of the pack. But, She was naked.
Remus turned away from her, feeling like he was barging in on her while she was indecent. But this was normal, Remus knew. Remus had noticed a lot of werewolves would walk around naked after the full moon. It many ways it was just another uncomfortable condition, another consequence, of turning into a werewolf. Animals, unlike humans, did not require clothing.
Remus cleared his horse throat, "would you like this." He asked her. Holding out his over shirt to her.
He had planned to put it on over his under shirt but figured it would be more prudent to do a kindness for the girl and offer it to her. He had others, and it's not like the shirt was special. Nothing he owned was special.
As he went to hand it to her he noticed something odd about her though. He hadn't even been meaning to look at her body but as she turned to him, he noticed something very curious about her. She, just like Toby, had no bite wounds or scars.
She was just a girl, she couldn't have been older than 19 or 20.
"Sure, thanks." She had said. Taking the shirt from him.
She put the shirt on over her head and began to wash her feet, face and hands, alongside Remus.
After a few minutes she spoke.
"Your one of the old ones, right?" She asked. Remus knew what she meant. This was something the pack called those who had been werewolves the longest. He learned that other than the the leaders, the older werewolves were sought out for help and questions the most. This had given him a particular advantage with a lot of people in the pack.
"ah, um. yes." Remus said hoarsely.
She nodded. "Were you bit?" She asked, seeing his scar on his shoulder.
Remus nodded.
He had noticed that she had no werewolf bite or any scar to show she'd gotten one at any point in time. Remus had discovered that a decent amount of the werewolves in the pack didn't have bite scars either. But, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how they had become werewolves. And, more frustratingly, most of these people seemed unwilling or at least unable to tell him how they had become werewolves. It set Remus' teeth on edge. It made him feel uneasy.
Toby was among them. he'd know the young man four months and he still hadn't told him how he'd become a werewolf. This had become his most important task. How were new werewolves popping up all over the place without being bitten. He kept worrying that maybe someone had found a way to infect unsuspecting witches and wizards with Lycanthropy. He knew deep down this was unlikely but he couldn't help himself from assuming the worst.
"How long have you been a werewolf?" Remus asked her. Looking at her hands, they were far worse then his had been.
"Only about a year." She said, trying to sooth her injured hands in the stream.
"I'm sorry, the transformations are horrible at the beginning." He told her.
"Ya, not great." She said in a Irish accent, looking at her hands.
"How'd you manage to get so few cuts on ya hands and ya feet?" she asked looking at his hands.
"Oh I did a spell that healed most of the bad scraps" Remus explained.
"Oh, ya one of the ones who can do magic?" She asked.
"Ah, yeah. I could help you with yours if you'd like." Remus offered.
"Oh id appreciate it. I've never done magic ya see, don't think I could even if I tried to." The girl chuckled.
"Well that's alright, I can still help you." Remus said kindly. For some reason she remind him of Hermione a little bit. The thought alone made him wish he was back at the burrow with everyone.
As he healed her injuries he thought briefly of Harry, Ron, And Hermione. He hoped that they were okay. He hoped Tonks was okay too.
"Oh, thank you so much" The girl said.
"No problem." Remus said, plainly.
Just then he heard a twig snap nearby, he turned around to see who it was but it was just Alfie. The little boy had partially dressed and was scooting himself down the small Embankment.
"Hi Alfie." Remus said kindly.
Alfie gave a small wave. The boy, had yet to talk to him. He had begun to worry something was wrong with the boy that prevented him from speaking.
The boy looked in decent condition and only had a few small scraps on his legs.
He was a little unsteady on his feet but went into the water, fully submerging himself, sitting on the rocky stream bed.
"oh. His arm." The girl said, seeing his injury.
"Mhhm, it was worse before." Remus murmured.
"that's horrible. who'd do that to a child?" the girl asked.
"you'd be surprised." He said. After a pause he asked, "you weren't bitten, then?" Remus asked, pretending he didn't notice she hadn't.
"Ah, no no I wasn't." she said, Awkwardly.
Remus was tempted to ask her outright how she had become a werewolf but thought better of it at the last second. It would be easier to get Toby to tell him as he'd know him so much longer.
"W-what was that?" the girl asked. But, Remus had heard the noise too. It sounded like yelling in the distance.
"I'm not sure." Remus told her, standing up to look around.
The yelling in the distance grew louder. Something was wrong.
"go hide. over there!" Remus pointed to the opposite side of the stream. The girl did what he said, and ran off to hide.
Remus helped Alfie to his feet, and grabbed his hand and hurried with him into the forest. Tensions had been raising within the pack and Remus had no idea what was going on, but he figured that it wasn't good.
"Alfie, come here." He said, pulling the little boy over to a large hollowed out tree.
"C'mon, go in here." He told him, lifting him up to put him inside the empty tree trunk. The little boy look terrified as the bangs and yells from the main camp site grew closer.
"You need to stay hidden here." He explained.
"I'll come back. If I don't, there's a village about a mile that way, you should be able to find food and help there. I'll come back and find you. I promise." He said helping the little boy crouch down. He was attempting to cling onto him.
"I have to go help. Stay hidden until there's no more noise, no matter what. Okay?" He told him.
But, Alfie didn't act like he understood.
"Okay?" Remus reiterated his last point desperately.
"Okay." the little boy whispered back.
Remus sighed, and smiled. so he could speak...If he hadn't spoken to him for the first time during an emergency, he'd have praised the boy more, but there wasn't time unfortunately.
"good job." He told Alfie quickly.. "hide" he instructed one more time before turning running towards the camp.
Remus ran towards the camp, which had grown eerily quiet.
He ran along the trees, with his wand out. Ready for anything to go wrong.
As Remus approached the camp he could see that at least half the camp was destroyed. And, there were bodies on the ground.
Tensions had been rising within the pack for awhile but had never expected a coup or an all out assault to take place. This had been very unexpected.
He hurried over to his tent, hoping to use it for cover as he assessed the situation. But as he approached he caught sight of one of the fallen who was laying next to his tent. As he got closer, his blood ran cold. He realized he knew who it was. And, Immediately he felt a wave of terrible guilt and sorrow.
It was Toby. He was sprawled on his back, surrounded by blood. He had a terrible head wound, and looked like he had bled out all over the grass. Remus crouched down, confirming his worst fears. The teen was dead. His skull had been cracked on a nearby rock. Someone had killed him.
And worse, it appeared that Toby had attempted to find Him in his last seconds, whether he sought him out of fear or because he trusted him, Remus would never know. He'd never know anything else about the boy now. Someone had made sure of that.
Remus sighed, covering his face with his hands.
His mother would never know what happened to him. He just wouldn't ever come back home. He'd never return another one of her letters, or receive another care package, He'd just be one of the many people who vanished mysteriously during the war, to never be found, leaving his family to question his fate indefinitely. It wasn't just, it wasn't right. He was just a kid. Remus ruminated.
Remus braced himself, and stood up shakily.
Then, he heard a noise behind him, and his hair stood up on end. There was another werewolf near him.
"Oh, no no no no." Sneered a voice he knew.
"This isn't right." Fenrir Grayback jeered.
Remus turned around.
"You shouldn't be here. You live in Dumbledore's pocket." Grayback said happily. Too happily. Like he had found a kid with their hand stuck in a cookie jar.
Remus steadied himself before speaking.
"Perhaps it's you who should not be here. These people were fine before today." Remus said, trying to keep the hatred in his voice in control.
Grayback looked mad. His cover was surely blown.
"Ha, who do you think you are to tell me where I do or do not belong?" He sneered at him.
"Look around Fenrir. Do these people seem better off to you?! Truthfully. DO THEY?." He shouted, recklessly. He didn't care what happened to him anymore as reckless abandon swept over him.
Grayback pulled his wand out, but Remus beat him to it.
"One day, when we can all come out of hiding, you'll know that this was the way." Fenrir sneered, before throwing a curse Remus' way.
Remus blocked it, sending a jinx back at him, diving behind a tree. "You must know this will never work. getting respect by fear and domination will never work." HE yelled at Grayback.
Just then a spell flew past Remus in the opposite direction. There was more than more of them.
Remus sent a curse at the oncoming werewolves from the other side. Dodging out of the way of oncoming curses, just in time.
Just then, one of the werewolves yelled to there other. "NO, were too close!" One of them screamed. And, before Remus could even respond, he had been blasted off his feet and he was flying through the air, objects hitting him all over.
The next thing Remus knew, he was waking up on the ground next to his platform tent. He gasped rolling over. The other werewolves also must have been throw in a different direction or disapperated as he didn't see them. Suddenly terrible pain in his arm and ribs started. Making him realize how injured he was. He could barely move but tried to look at himself, to figure out just how hurt he was. But, he had so much blood covering the right side of his body he could barely see what as even wrong. All he knew was there was a huge flap of skin was where his upper arm was. It appeared that he had hit his platform tent so forcefully that a sharp edge had completely ripped off part of his arm, laving tissue exposed on his upper arm and shoulder.
Remus knew if he wanted to live he'd need to act quickly to stop the bleeding. Remus crawled up the stairs on his tent leaving pools of blood as he went.
He grabbed a loose belt and wrapped it around the top of his upper arm, trying to stop the bleeding. Remus screamed out in pain as he tried to staunch the flow of blood. He fell back onto the wooden floor gasping. He was pretty sure he'd die there, on the ground covered in his own blood.
He knew he didn't have a lot of choices, but tried once again to get up but failed. if he could move his ability to get help was greatly decreased.
There was only maybe three people who could help him, and only maybe two that he could make it to. Hogwarts was just to far away, and he'd never make it from Hogsmeade all the way up to the school, and it was possible Albus wasn't even there. His fathers house might have been close enough but he wouldn't be able to disapperate right to the house, he'd still have to make it from the front gate to the front door and he didn't think he could even do that.
He was bleeding less now with the tourniquet and could see that part of his upper arm had been partial degloved, exposing the muscles below. He knew at that moment the only person he could really go to for help would be Tonks. she lived closest to where he currently was, and out of everyone in the order he trusted her the most. He wasn't even sure shed be equipped or able to help him with such a severe injury but it wasn't like he could walk into a hospital.
He was sure he'd only really have one chance to get there safely. He'd need to apperate directly in front of her front door.
He steadied himself and grabbed his wand and disapperated, with Tonks house in his minds eye.
When he opened his eyes he knew he had been successful. he was string up at Tonks' front door.
With great difficulty he reached up and knocked on her door, and waited.