Chapter One

The Bite.

A blood curdling, shriek of terror from a tiny child came echoing through the walls of Lyall & Hope Lupin's bedroom. Immediately it startled them both awake out of their unsuspecting deep state of slumber.

Never had either parent awoke to such a horrible sound from their only child and both knew right away that this was more than just a nightmare. They bolted upright in bed, Hope grasped her husbands arm in fright and Lyall quickly reached for his wand on the nightstand.

In their child's four short lived years thus far, they could count perhaps only once or twice he had woken upset from a bad dream. He had always been good sleeper. Even the one time when Remus had awoke in the middle of the night it was just a light crying episode.

The day after the tearful awakening, little Remus couldn't stop apologizing for interrupting his mother's sleep. Hope was touched that at such a young age her boy showed such consideration for others.

He had told her repeatedly that he was a bad boy for waking Mummy over just a nightmare about a burned chocolate cake. Hope had to continually shower him with hugs reassuring him he was not a bad boy. She even ended up making a chocolate cake that day to help set his mind at ease.

"Lumos!" Lyall said clearly with a flick of his wand.

A soft glow filled their bedroom. However, light only showed them their empty bedroom and illuminated their paled faces.

A low, rumbling growl combined with a long high pitched scream of pain then resounded in their ears.

Lyall jumped out of bed and shouted in response, "MERLIN'S BEARD! What 'n bloody hell is happening?"

Hope's entire body shivered with goosebumps. Despite never having heard her son produce such a loud, egregious sound, it triggered her protective mother instincts. She flew like lightning out of bed towards their doorway with all her senses on high alert.

Clenching the doorknob she cried out desperately, "REMUS!"

Lyall stumbled out of bed, scratched his head and held up a hand to his wife,

"Wait, my love, it may just be that bloody boggart… escaped from the cabinet. But I could of sworn I locked it up tighter than two Bludgers in a Quidditch ball crate."

Suddenly, an eerie, satisfied barking laugher started filling their home. It developed into a series of spine chilling, vengeful howling.

Lyall knew that sound. No. This was no boggart.

He should know, he had become a world renowned expert on dark creatures. His specialty was Non-Spiritous Apparitions, especially poltergeists and boggarts. That was unmistakable howls of a werewolf.

Anger immediately boiled inside of him. He recalled the recent memory of him voicing his concerns yesterday to the Ministry committee on the importance of detaining Fenrir Greyback just a day longer until this full moon.

But the committee members had mocked him in disbelief. He recalled their words still fresh on his mind that still enraged him. Lyall, you just stick to Welsh Boggarts, that's what you're good at.

Then they foolishly decided to release Greyback on the weak grounds of him lacking a wand and not being on the Werewolf Registry list. Damn that Registry needed better maintenance.

Two Muggle local children were killed the last full moon. Two innocent children murdered. He was so perplexed why those committee members couldn't of kept Fenrir Greyback only 24 hours more in detention.

Hope had frozen at the petrifying howling sound and locked gazes with her husband. Then Lyall broke eye contact with her and glanced out their window at the bright, ominous full moon in the night sky.

His eyes widened in panic and his insides twisted in fright as it dawned on him that his own son may be the third child victim. His skin broke out in a cold sweat.

"No…. No…. No, no-no-no-no-no, nooooooooooo!"

Lyall repeatedly blubbered out the word hysterically and then quickly pushed past Hope still paused by their bedroom door.

He clenched his wand tightly and ran to their son's bedroom in a flash. Hope followed close behind him to a traumatic scene that would haunt them both to the end of their days.

Greyback had forced open Remus' bedroom window, jumped in and attacked him while he slept peacefully in his bed.

It was a gruesome sight. There was a deep bite on Remus' right thigh and blood from his lacerated femoral artery was rapidly spurting all over the bed sheets a bright crimson color.

Greyback had one his enormous front paws pushing down on Remus' leg and the other on his chest pinning him down helplessly. His snout and sharp teeth dripped fresh, bright red blood from gnawing on the boy's muscular leg tissues.

The child was shivering in shock, whimpering and his eyes were beginning to roll backward loosing consciousness. Hope peeked around Lyall at the scene and inhaled a large gasp of terror.

Greyback looked up shamelessly at them with a vile, toothy grin and then threw his head back hollering more sickening barking laughter.

"Expulso!" Lyall screamed pointing his wand at him.

An explosion of blue light burst out of the tip of Lyall's wand and delivered a powerful forceful blow to the werewolf's entire body. Greyback was thrown backward and *BOOM* hit the wall. Glass shattered from the open window and cascaded across the floor. The werewolf jerked his limbs wildly and snarled in rage.

Lyall then shouted the full body-bind curse, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Greyback immediately quieted and his entire body was paralyzed. Hope rushed to the bedside and snatched up her boy in her arms who had now passed out.

She cried, "Nooo, my precious boy. My sweet, precious boy! Sweetheart, please, please stay with me."

Lyall frowned at the sight, flicked his wand at Greyback, and angrily whispered, "Crucio!"

Greyback was still paralyzed and muted, and only quivered in response. He shuddered on the wooden floor from the intense, excruciating pain inflicted by Lyall's successful cast of one of the three Unforgivable Curses. It was one of the most dark, powerful curses known to wizard kind.

Lyall then pivoted towards Hope and said, "Quick! Go get some dittany and…. and a bottle of silver powder."

Hope nodded and carefully laid the child's limp body back down on the mattress. She kissed the top of his head and dashed out of the room.

Suddenly, Greyback had somehow broken free of the body-bind curse. Perhaps Lyall had lowered his wand slightly when he had turned to his wife.

The angered werewolf let out a piercingly loud, bottled up howl of pain in response to the cruciatus curse that Lyall was still blasting at him. Despite the immense suffering the dark spell caused, Greyback still managed to deftly flip his body back on all fours.

Lyall released the curse and Greyback snarled at him furiously. The werewolf ran across the broken glass and leapt for the open window.

Lyall instinctively shouted, "Stupefy!" while running towards him but it was too late. Greyback had bolted through the open window. Lyall stood aiming his wand outside the window frame but the werewolf vanished like a poof of smoke.

The night air gently blew on Lyall's flushed cheeks while his eyes darted around scanning the outside scenery. He looked down and noticed the large, disturbing canine prints in the dirt leading strait towards the closest wooded area.

A sharp pain prickled the bottoms of his feet and he turned his eyes downward at the mess of broken glass scattered all over the floor. He spun around and charged towards the lifeless form of his son crumpled on the blood soaked sheets. The sound drifted into his ears of Hope rattling through their bottles in the kitchen cabinets.

The dittany & silver combination would by no means cure the atrocity that occurred. But it could help seal the horrific wound to slow the blood loss. Lyall clasped both hands on the boys severed thigh closing the two sides of torn flesh together they best he could temporarily. He reached up toward Remus' throat to feel for a pulse. Please hang on, son.

Thankfully, there was still a faint heart beat.

He remembered regrettably the disparaging remark he had made about werewolves to both the Ministry committee and Fenrir Greyback.

"Soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death," he had declared when his temper flared.

Lyall shook his head and thought with despair, "Oh Remus. What have I done?"

A werewolf howl sounded in the distance and Lyall winced at the dreadful din.

Hope hurried into the room at last with her hands shaking but still grasping tightly on the two requested bottles. Lyall worked quickly and did his best to seal the deep wound for now until the healers at St. Mungos could better attend to it. He breathed out a big exhale and felt slight relief the bleeding was at least stopped.

In anticipation of their travel, Hope ripped strips of the bedsheets and tied them carefully around the wound to give it extra support. She thought of the squeezing and tugging that were part of the strange experience of apparition and hoped it would provide some additional stability in transit.

Tears rapidly dripped down her cheeks and she tried to blink them away as she gathered her boy up into her arms again. She held him securely against her chest and kissed his pale forehead.

Lyall linked arms with Hope, they hastily nodded to each other in agreement of their mutual readiness for the apparition to the hospital.

CRACK!

The three of them disappeared and left behind a small black cloud that quickly faded. The Lupin family would never be the same.

This was certainly the longest and most terrifying night of Lyall & Hope Lupins lives to witness their son get attacked and then wait miserably for numerous hours as the healers treated him at St.Mungos hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

The parents sat waiting and embracing each other with worried, shocked faces like they had just seen a dementor. Perhaps what they had actually witnessed with their son was a hundred times worse.

They weren't sure what else to do while waiting to hear news from the healers who worked tirelessly on Remus on the "Dangerous" Dai Llewellyn Ward for Serious Bites located on the first floor. It was the area where wizards and witches were treated for creature induced injuries.

The head healer, Hippocrates Smethwyck, a younger wizard but extremely talented had jumped into help them right away. He immediately started administering a blood replenishing potion that was pushed every half hour to help make up for the blood loss. He also cast a stamina charm and quickly organized a willing crew in extra green protective gear to work on the bite.

He had also conjured up some sheets of fabric to isolate the couple and strongly advised them to keep quiet of the incident to reduce risk of panic among others in the wizard community.

There was already healers on the floor that cast the parents anxious, wide-eyed looks more often than not when first approaching their area of the floor. It was easy to tell their unwillingness to be involved through the obvious posturing of backing away like they wouldn't get near Remus with a ten foot broomstick.

The Lupin parents were unaware that this was only the very beginning of a life time of negative stigma experiences surrounding lycanthropes among wizard kind.

The tears came in waves for Hope as she clung to Lyall waiting as the healers treated little Remus. Healers were continually buzzing around in their green robes with shinny golden emblems with a bone and wand. Lyall observed that many of them were almost deliberately not looking at them.

However, one kind witch Healer dared to look at them and flicked her wand with a quiet command, "Accio warm blanket." A soft, purple blanket floated rapidly towards them and gently covered the two of them over their shoulders.

Hope sniffed and tried to manage a smile at her in gratitude but only managed to raise half the corner of her mouth. Lyall nodded at the healer. She winked back at them both and humbly continued about her business.

Smethwyck had tried to explain numerous times the blazing reality they could treat the bite wound but there was no cure for lycanthropy. Neither parent could fully wrap their heads around that knowledge yet.

Lyall responded in denial, "No. No. He can't be a... There has to be some potion, some spell that cures it. I will find it. He's... he's just too young. This can't be happening."

Hope also refused to believe there wasn't more that could be done to cure him. There had to be something out there and they swore to themselves they would somehow find it.

Finally, as the light of dawn began to cast a few rays through an old, dingy window of the ward, the healers emerged quietly reporting to them they had done all they could do for their little boy. An exhausted Smethwyck sat next to them and cleared his throat to share the news.

He tried initially to focus on the positives that because Remus had magical blood he survived verses historically muggles who got bitten had a much higher fatality rate.

He reported that Remus' leg bone would probably continue to grow normally, they could regrow the damaged muscle tissues but there was a strong possibility he may walk with a slight limp on that side. He couldn't guarantee some of the nerve reconnecting spells to organize the wiring to be completely the same configuration as before the bite.

Hope reached out to Smethwyck and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Can I please see him now?" she asked him urgently.

"Yes, of course. He must remain still while that muscle regrows so we thought it best to keep him under the sleeping spell for at least a few days in order for it to work properly," he replied to her. Hope nodded and the healer led both parents to the boy's bedside.

The boy laid motionless on the hospital bed with a surprisingly peaceful facial expression. Smethwyck stated to the parents, "I... I did give him dreamless sleep potion along with the regular purple sleeping potion." Lyall nodded, thanked him and then took up Remus' small hand.

He looked at his innocent boys tiny fingers and felt a gigantic burning sense of guilt gnawing inside his chest. What have I done? I will never forgive myself.

Hope was on the other side of the bed. She gently embraced him around his small shoulders. Then tenderly stroked his round cheeks weeping softly.

"Oh my sweet, sweet boy. My poor, sweet boy. We're so dreadfully sorry you have to go through this, my little love. Mummy is right here. Mummy is here," she told him in between showering him with kisses on his cheeks, forehead and messy thick hair.

Lyall could find no words and simply leaned over the boy's sleeping body while holding his limp hand onto his own cheek. It's all my fault, I can't tell him. The fathers eyes welled up with heavy tears and he closed his eyes in deep shame.

Remus was covered with a soft, purple blanket, that was notably different from the purple blanket that warmed his parents while they were in the waiting area.

Hope looked closer at the fabric with wonder as she noticed a creative enchantment had been placed on the surface. Tiny ghost like, golden shapes seemed to be whizzing quickly in and out of the fuzzy surface. There was even faceless miniature figures flying around on broomsticks.

When Lyall opened his eyes again he saw his wife's scrunched up face curiously watching the blanket. He told her, "Oh yes, they do it for all the children's blankets here. It's a Quidditch game. It's intended to help provide a bit of entertainment during recovery."

Hope gave him a tiny smile of amusement which faded quickly when she looked down at the thick layer of white gauze bandages on Remus' upper, right leg. It was not covered by the enchanted blanket. She noticed there was a soft blue glow of light swirling around the bandages.

Smethwyck was still quietly standing near the bedside multitasking writing notes on a floating clipboard but also standing by for any questions. He noticed Hope looking at the swirling blue light and recognized the familiar Muggle confused facial expression. He explained patiently,

"That light around the bandages is the spell at work regrowing those mangled muscular tissues. Vulners Sanentur... it's a spell used to heal deep gashes. He's making good progress with the blood replenishing potions, as well."

Hope listened earnestly to his explanation and choking back tears told him, "I can't thank you enough for saving my boy, Mr. Smethwyck. Thank Merlin he's still alive."

Smethwyck sighed and replied, "I do share your sentiment he's alive, Mrs.Lupin. However, I can't pretend his life will ever return to the state of normalcy prior to the bite. As I'm sure you are both well aware, these are dark times. I urge you to not let the 'Kneazle out of the bag' about it with anyone. We can discuss the lycanthropy condition whenever you are ready."

The head Healer could see in the parents' haunted, tired expressions that discussing all the grave implications of a major lifestyle adjustment ahead of them would be best done later. The parents were clearly mentally wrung out.

He had not risen to his work position from skilled healing or knowledge of physical injuries and maladies alone. He was excellent at understanding the importance of timing for healing of the heart and mind for a multitude of traumatic scenarios.

Smethwyck reached down and pulled out his wand in from carefully designed pocket of his green St.Mungos robe. He quietly summoned a tray of hot tea with two tea cups and set it on the bedside table next to their boy's bed.

In another pocket of his robe he pulled out two wrapped chocolate bars and placed them on the tea tray. Then he grasped his floating clipboard and left the room.