Chapter Three.

The First Full Moon.

Tick, tick, tick, tick…. Hope looked down at the source of sound. The shinny new enchanted lunar pocket watch had been gifted to their family when they left the wizarding hospital.

Sure, it was an extremely thoughtful, kind gift from the healers so it could aide them in always knowing right away the current position of the moon.

But admittedly, she wasn't enjoying the ominous ticking noise reminding her of the new horror they had to face soon. They had only been home for a week and already they were facing the first full moon with him in just six days. Everything now revolved around the full moon.

She took a deep breath and decided to take a pause from washing the dishes. She started warming up the hot water kettle to make a pot of tea.

While it was warming, she studied the face of the clock again. She thought to herself undoubtedly whomever witch or wizard had made it, they were bloody brilliant. Smethwyck had been sworn to secrecy not to reveal the identity of its maker.

On the face of the clock, it was like a dark night sky with pin pricked sized white dots scattered around representing stars. Remus had made the keen observation on their drive home that sometimes like the real night sky, if you watched it long enough one of the little white dots would twinkle and suddenly turn into a downward streak of tiny light mimicking a shooting star.

It had little moons in different shapes instead of where numbers would usually be near the edges of the circle. Instead of twelve numeral positions, though, like a normal face of a clock, it had eight points around the circle:

-New moon (@12),

-Waxing Crescent (@between 10-11),

-First Quarter moon (@9),

-Waxing Gibbous (@between 7-8)

- Full Moon (@6)

-Waning Gibbous (@between 5-4)

-Last Quarter moon (@3)

-Waning Crescent (@between 2-1)

It also had a glowing golden arrow that was constantly lit up pointing to the precise momentarily moon phase. It was magically aligned somehow to the actual real life moon in its monthly orbit around the earth.

Strangely, the arrow moved in a direction that was *counterclockwise* instead of the usual clockwise.

Hope filled her tea pot with the steaming liquid from her kettle. She smiled when she listened to Remus playing happily in the other room on his cherished new toy wizard broom. "Take that! Now into the box you naughty boggart!"

She giggled and then looked closer at the face of the clock and noticed small writing along the length of the arrow that pointed to the current moon shape. The tiny letters on the arrow said waxing gibbous.

Hope scratched her head and tried to remember the difference between waxing and waning gibbous.

Lyall had patiently explained the lunar related vocabulary to her in terms of the moon phases but at the moment she couldn't remember. Her mind felt so preoccupied with other matters.

She wished she had taken an astronomy class in the past. It felt like Lyall definitely knew much more about the night sky from his background at Hogwarts.

Hhhmm. She thought more about the concepts of moon phases while pouring herself a cup of tea determined to figure it out. This was their life now, she had to work it out. Lyall taught her a memory trick of picturing the waxing gibbous being like adding more globs of wax to a half moon. Wax is adding more and more all the way to its full moon state.

Then he had explained that the opposite waning gibbous was removing or withering away the globs of it back down to a half shape. He had even shown her visual demonstrations in the air. He really was a gifted teacher and sometimes she wondered if his talents would be better utilized in some teaching capacity at a school rather than the ministry.

Hope stirred a splash of low-fat milk into her tea and muttered to herself, "Waxing, waxing, waning, waning, repeat."

Remus came floating into the kitchen low to the ground on his new toy broomstick right up to his mother's knees and stopped. He quietly hooked one arm around her leg and then snuggled his head up onto the fabric of her pant leg.

Hope asked him,"Well, did you destroy that boggart?"

He looked up with a silly grin and replied, "Mummy! I can't ever destroy a boggart… I gotta zap it into a funny shape and then trap it into a box."

"Oh yes, my love, how riddikulus of me to forget."

"Riddikulus!? Hey. That's it, mummy. That's what you're supposed to say. Maybe you didn't forget."

They both giggled. Hope squat down at his level and hugged him. "You're right, my little love. Mummy has such a smart boy." She tussled the top of his hair and asked,

"All that fighting of Boggart must of worked up an appetite, yeah? Would you care for a cup of tea and some biscuits? Or perhaps some bread & jam?"

"Mmmm. Bread & jam, please, mummy."

"Bread & jam it is, then," Hope said starting to assemble it at the counter and Remus kept a hand clenched onto her leg.

Since getting settled back at home, they had noticed Remus would play independently at times perfectly contented. But then other times he still had moments of panic running to either parent glancing at windows afraid of Greyback outside. The Healers had encouraged them the best response was to talk openly about it with him and not ever ignore it.

Remus jumped off his broom, limped swiftly over to their dining table and crawled up onto a chair. He swung his little legs back and forth lightly under the seat of the chair.

His mother soon brought over a serving tray to the table filled with two blue & white tea cups, a pot covered by puffy avocado green tea cozy, a tin of biscuits and a plate with a slice of toast covered with a generous dollop of strawberry jam. .

As the boy excitedly chewed his toast, jHope took a sip of her tea and asked him,

"What was your boggart today, dear?"

Remus swallowed heavily and said, "Same, mummy, the werewolf again."

He started looking out the nearest window with a furrowed brow.

Hope noticed his breathing start to increase rapidly. She quickly set down her tea and grabbed his sticky hand. He looked back from the window into his mother's eyes with a worried expression.

"Darling, he's not out there. He's not outside our house. You're safe."

Remus nodded sadly and looked down at his lap. He rubbed his other hand over his right thigh feeling the strange new ridges of scars under his trousers. Hope squeezed his hand and looked at him very intently.

"Listen to me, Remus. You're safe and it was not your fault, sweetheart. Okay? You did nothing wrong," she reassured him. He nodded and said, "Okay, mummy."

"So tell me, what did you change the boggart into today?"

His facial expression brightened. Then with a slightly sheepish grin, he released her hand, pulled out his tiny toy wand from his pocket and told her all about it.

"Well, I swung my wand around like this, and then I said 'Riddikulus' and then the werewolf shrunk down like this, *poof* and then I turned it into a koala bear…. with a bow tie and top hat."

"A koala bear, really? I think I would of liked to have seen that rather than washing my boring old dishes. It sounds like it was ready to do a little song and dance for you."

Remus snickered at the thought and then resumed eating his toast again.

The six days left until the first full moon dwindled down quickly and the parents watched the face of their lunar clock in dread.

The arrow steadily moved counterclockwise closer and closer towards the full moon at the bottom of the clock face where number six is usually positioned.

They also watched the face of their precious boy grow increasingly weary and pale. It was as if he seemed to tire more easily and was ready for bedtime earlier than usual.

He was barely staying awake through evening supper time. His head would start nodding off even while he was still chewing at the table. Lyall would carry Remus back to the bed and sit on the bedside next to his boy to assure there was always a parent close by.

They seemed to form a new pattern like this nightly where Lyall sat with him while Hope hurriedly changed into her nightgown and finished what she needed to do in getting ready for bed. Then she would lay next to Remus to be the next parent on guard and usually read for a while. Lyall tucked them in with kisses and then cleaned up the dinner dishes. He always kindly insisted she lay down with him first as he wanted to be up to up longer.

Lyall had returned to work at the Ministry during the weekdays. Nobody talked to him about what happened and supposedly 'nobody knew'. But people were clearly acting like there was an 'Erumpet in the room' by awkwardly having shorter conversations with Lyall and physically distancing themselves from him when he was around.

He didn't let it bother him, though, and just continued about his business. He focused on getting through his day so he could get home as soon as possible in order to make progress on his full moon preparations. As much as he wanted to feel like he was making preparations, in all honesty he didn't know what he was in for since it was the first time.

He had replaced the broken window in Remus' bedroom. However, they were definitely not planning to have him spend his first full moon in there after what happened. They had decided to use their basement. Remus would hardly set foot in his bedroom anyway since they had gotten home and was sleeping snuggled close to his parents in their beds.

Lyall bought another teddy bear for Remus so that he could snuggle it for comfort when they would have to leave him. Plus he figured in case he shredded it in the werewolf form, it would not be the original stuffed bear that he had bonded with even more in the hospital.

Smethwyck had explained before they left Saint Mungos that they could try a sleeping potion before the transformation but it most likely would not take any effect while he was in the werewolf form. Lyall & Hope still pleaded for any and all potions that might lessen the terror of the inevitable looming transformation. All he could offer them was a generous supply of dreamless sleep potions, a jar full of dittany for shallow cuts, and extra chocolate bars.

The night before the full moon, both parents lay gazing at each other and Remus sandwiched between them asleep. They were both relived that he was sleeping better now. Hope tenderly caressed the boy's forehead.

They had noticed Remus was not sleeping well when they first put him to bed. He had acted extremely lethargic the entire day only having enough energy to follow his mom around the house. She eventually decided to put household chores on hold, just get bookish on the couch while he rested his head in her lap in exhaustion for most of the day. It's as if the more the moon waxes, the more is pulling energy out of him, she sadly observed.

He barely had any appetite for dinner and couple only manage a few bites which seemed to be out of sheer politeness alone. When they carried him to bed that night, they started to notice that body would occasionally twitch. His face would intermittently tense up like he was in pain.

His father had woken him up and the boy drowsily sipped some red colored healing potion. Lyall had done okay in potions class at Hogwarts but now he was wishing that he had done better as he found himself brewing a lot lately. He was more interested in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class at the time.

He also had Remus ate a bite of chocolate afterwards as it helped relax him and took the bad taste of the potion out of his mouth.

"I can't believe it's happening tomorrow night already," Hope whispered biting her lip. Lyall reached out and took her hand.

"I know, love. That arrow is nearly pointing to the full moon at the bottom and I've checked the night sky to peek at it more than ever lately. I have all the ingredients ready for brewing a Draught of Peace potion we can all take before it happens. It's a potion to help calm our worries and hopefully soothe Remus when if he gets agitated as a…." he said trailing off at the end unable to say the 'w' word to her.

He took a deep breath and continued, "But we must be cautious not to take too much as it could put us all in an irreversible sleep."

"Would that be so bad right now, given the circumstances?" Hope asked half jokingly in response.

Lyall gave her a half smile and heaved a big sigh.

He had not told Hope yet about what had happened at the ministry with him and Greyback. He wasn't able to bring himself to do it yet. He planned to eventually tell her but couldn't muster enough courage as he could hardly think about it himself without spiraling downward in self-loathing guilt.

"I've practiced all the spells I plan to use tomorrow and am ready. The silencing charm around our house…and I've gotten quite good at casting a shield charm in my adventures with dark creatures. One time I gained the best gift out of it ever when I helped rescue a lovely lady in the woods. Ha. That and the Boggart banishing spell, of course," he said with a wink.

Hope blushed and quietly giggled.

"Remus and I have visited so many Charity shops in the village and neighboring villages to buy blankets to pile up in the basement. He's been so silly at times rolling around on them that I've just plain given up on folded them. I wonder if the neighbors watching me bring in all the stacks of blankets think our boiler is in a state of disrepair and we're out of firewood."

Snickering back at her, he replied, "Well, let's hope that's ALL they will be wondering about these days."

The next day, Lyall had gotten approved for a half day at work so that he could get home earlier for last minute preparations before the big event. The arrow on their lunar pocket watch was nearly touching the full moon picture. Hope pointed out that the full moon symbol on the face of the clock was giving a slight pulsating glow in warning that it would be happening soon.

Remus' face appeared ashen with a greenish tint. Hope was worried about him eating something as he just cried in refusal when she tried to offer him anything. He held both hands over his tummy and whimpered with his eyes squeezed shut on their couch.

When his father got home, he set his briefcase down by the door and rushed to Remus' side by the couch where he was taking a snooze. He gently swooped his hair and looked down at him with an agonized expression. Its all my fault, he never deserved any of this travesty.

"He's been like that all day, and won't eat a bite," Hope said miserably, walking up behind Lyall.

Lyall just sighed and hung his head in shame. Hope sat on the floor next to him with her back against the couch. Lyall slid down next to her and snuggled next to her. He heaved a big sigh and she rubbed his back.

"I dashed into Diagon Alley on my way home for a box of chocolate frogs. I figured it would be something good for him to look forward to when it's over tomorrow," he said.

"Aw, that was kind of you, love. He'll like that, I'm sure of it."

"Daaa….dy?" Remus groaned behind them.

They both quickly turned around and put a hand on him.

"Yes, I'm here, Remus," Lyall told him.

"I'm feeling poorly," he said drowsily.

Lyall sighed again feeling his heart was bleeding inside his chest.

"I know, my little man. I know. There's something we need to talk about…."

"It's me being a werewolf, isn't it, Daddy?" Remus said sleepily.

Hope and Lyall exchanged shocked glances. They weren't sure if he fully comprehended the consequences of being bitten by Greyback yet. Clearly, they underestimated how perceptive the boy was a such a young age.

"Yes, Remus. It is," Lyall responded.

"Is that why I'm sick?" the boy asked blinking his droopy eyelids.

"Yes. I'm afraid it's a full moon tonight when the sun goes down. That means you will transform into a werewolf tonight in our basement. Then when the sun rising in the morning, you will turn back into yourself again," Lyall explained carefully.

Remus got quiet and Hope began to weep. She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes. She hated crying in front of him about it and had managed to hold it back most days until he was asleep at night. Lyall put his arm around her and she rested her head under his chin.

They waited patiently for their boy to respond. It was clear by his eyes darting around his mental wheels were turning. Finally, he asked,

"Is the werewolf gonna come take me away to join the other werewolves in the forest?"

In unison, both parents shook their heads and the boy's facial expression softened in relief. Lyall grasped his boy's hand, noticed it was shaking and he tightened his grip on it.

"No. Absolutely not. I am going to put a silencing charm around our home, Remus, so nobody but mummy and daddy will hear anything tonight. I will also cast a shield charm both around our house and around the room in the basement for protection as well. You'll be safe," Lyall assured him.

Hope chimed in, "We'll be right outside the door the whole time, Remus."

Remus felt his lip and jaw trembling. He looked at his mother and frowned.

"I have to be in there alone?"

Hope let out a small sob and then answered, "I'm afraid we have no other choice, my little love. It's… it's not because you are being punished. You did nothing wrong. It's because we can't let you bite mummy and daddy or anyone else when you're in the werewolf form."

The boy nodded in understanding and his droopy eyes shut for a few minutes. The parents exchanged agonized glances, but both felt surprised at how well he was taking it at such a young age. Lyall sighed and squeezed his little hand again. Remus' eyes fluttered back open.

"I picked you up a box of chocolate frogs from Diagon Alley today that will be a treat you can have when it's all over with tomorrow at dawn, Remus."

A small grin spread across the boy's lips, his eyes brightened a bit and he replied,

"Thank you, Daddy. Can I have one now?"

Lyall looked at Hope and she burst out, "Yes!"

He laughed lightly at her immediate outburst of agreement, fetched a small hexagonal box from his briefcase and gave it to the boy's eager hands. He opened it slowly and the frogged jumped out right away. Remus' attempts to grab at it looked were like slow motion in a movie. Hope leapt forward and trapped it under both her hands.

"Good catch, love" Lyall told her and clapped.

Remus had a small grin on his face but his eyes still blinked slowly as if it were hard to focus. Hope swept up the chocolate frog in both hands and carefully passed it back to her boy. He took hold of it and nibbled on the frog's head.

"What card is it Daddy?" Remus asked looking down at the box laying on his chest. Lyall dug into the hexagon shaped box to find which collectible chocolate frog card was included. He pulled out the card and remarked,

"Ah, it's Hengist of Woodcroft. The founder of Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding village in Great Britain."

Remus sleepily took the card from him and replied, "He looks like a Viking."

"Not likely a Viking. He was a wizard in the middle ages a long time ago. Perhaps we can visit Hogsmeade someday and I'll buy you a pint of butterbeer."

"Butterbeer…" Remus echoed with a small smile but eyes drooping again.

He had unknowingly dropped the chocolate frog and card. He seemed to be fading off into another snooze. Lyall bent over him and kissed the top of his head.

"Rest, my sweet boy. Go ahead and rest," he told him.

Remus' eyes closed and he fell back asleep with a worried expression.

Lyall looked at Hope and shaking his head in disbelief said, "He is just so incredibly brave."

Hope nodded in agreement and replied, "Yes indeed. You can go ahead with brewing that potion now, honey. There's a pot of tea in the kitchen if you need. I'll stay near him."

"Ah yes, the Draught of Peace potion. I must get to it. Thank you, love," he said. He leaned over and kissed her cheek and then left.

Later, with only an hour remaining until the full moon appeared, Hope was sitting in the basement tightly hugging her boy to her chest and lightly rocking him.

Lyall had gone outside to double check the protective charms in place and then returned with the potion he brewed for each of them to sip hoping to calm all their high anxiety levels. He had carefully placed a splash of the turquoise liquid in three different corked glass vials.

They each took tiny sips quietly and thankfully felt its effects immediately. Tension in their muscles relaxed and the nausea in their stomachs lessened. Lyall took a deep breath and looked down at the lunar pocket watch.

The arrow moving counterclockwise was almost on the full moon position. The writing along the length of the arrow that had said waxing gibbous was beginning to fade and the letters spelling "full moon" were starting to appear in its place.

"I think it's time to go now, Hope."

She looked at him and said, "I… I don't want to let him go."

Lyall nodded and said, "I know. I don't want to leave either. I get it."

Remus was barely awake from the combination of potions they had given him for pain, sleep and anxiety. Hope laid him down hesitantly on the blankets on the floor. Lyall tucked the new teddy bear under his arm. Remus looked up at them and started to cry.

"I don't wanna…" he sobbed. Tears streamed down both parents faces and they both gave him one last hug. Hope took his trembling hand and said,

"It's going to hurt a lot, sweetheart, but you can get through it. You're a brave, tough, trooper. Your new bear will be with you and we'll be right outside that door."

Lyall kissed his forehead and said, "Remus, we love you and this is not your fault. You'll get through this, you won't die and you won't remember being a werewolf, okay?"

Remus nodded, squeezed the new teddy bear with both arms holding it near his tear-stained face. The parents reluctantly left him and stood trembling behind the basement door. They embraced each other and waited for the moment to happen in agony.

Lyall pulled out the pocket watch and with both of their heads leaning against each other they looked down at it at their waist level. His hand was quivering so bad they couldn't see it well. Hope reached up one of her hands and steadied it underneath.

The arrow was now pointing exactly on the full moon position and the matching words across its length. The golden flashing, they had seen right before warning them the full moon was very close had stopped. Now the little icon of the full moon where the number six would normally be was a tiny glowing white circle. Hope and Lyall locked their gaze with each other in terror.

Suddenly, screams of pain rang out from the other side of the door and Hope instinctively grabbed the handle of the door to go to him. Lyall blocked her and woefully said "No you can't." She looked back at him desperately gasping breaths in and out.

"Oh Lyall, can't we at least have a tiny peek at him?"

His eyes darted around and he remembered that the shield charm perimeter ended before the doorway on the other side. He admittedly was curious to see the transformation, too.

He sighed and said, "All right. Just for a bit. We mustn't antagonize him once he's fully transformed."

Hope gave a quick nod and Lyall whispered as he pointed his wand at the doorknob, "Alohomora." The door unlocked and slightly swung open on its own. They both peeked around the frame of the door to a horrendous, unforgettable sight.

The screams of pain were matched by random jerks of movement all throughout Remus' little body convulsing like seizures. His limbs were magically growing twice or three times their size. His nightclothes made a chorus of ripping sounds and dropped off his body in ragged pieces.

His face was pulling outward from his nose and jaw into a short snout while his ears simultaneously went the opposite direction growing backwards with pointed tips. They watched in horror as his fingernails unnaturally grew into curved claws. Fur was swiftly erupting across all his skin surface area replacing the pale white into short, dark brown tufts of hair.

His cries of torturous pain transitioned at some point to a canine yelping sound. When he was fully transformed, he rolled from his back onto all four paws. Then shakily stood and lifted his head and gave a puppy like howl.

"Oh Merlin, help us," Hope said softly and held onto Lyall's arm for stability feeling herself become wobbly woozy. Seeing enough they both ducked back around the door and shut it. Lyall quickly cast the counter-charm at the doorknob locking it again saying firmly, "Colloportus."

Then he spun around and grabbed Hope just in time as she teetered like she was about to faint. But she did not pass out. They both were speechless and Hope was trying to catch her breath. She had forgotten to breathe when they watched the transformation and gotten dizzy.

"Breathe, dear, breathe," Lyall said soothingly after a while and put a hand on her cheek. Perhaps he was saying it for them both and he felt short of breath as well. Still gripping each other, they both eased themselves down on the bottom step of the stairway. And there they sat the entire night except for a quick dash upstairs to the loo.

They listened to disturbing puppy like barks, howls and whining from behind the door. They just sat on some pillows and waited holding onto each other. Lyall had discussed bringing a flask of fire whisky to sip but the decided against it to keep their heads clear.

Finally, the long, miserable hours were approaching sunrise at half past seven in the morning. Lyall whispered,

"We're almost there, love, five more minutes."

"Okay, she said with a big sigh.

Then when the sun rose, they heard the wolfish barks transition back into a human voice which was high pitched cries of pain again. Lyall stood up and rapidly started undoing the spells to get to their boy.

Remus laid shivering and naked on his side with his legs and arms out. He was crying and whimpering with his eyes clenched shut.

His hands were limply curled downward. Many of the charity shop blankets were chewed up and torn. The teddy bear was reduced to fabric shreds and piles of fluffy white stuffing.

Hope grabbed a blanket and quickly covered her boy. She sniffed back some tears, stroked his cheek and said to him softly,

"Oh Remus, my sweet brave boy. You made it. You did it, little one."

Her tears dripped down on the blanket and Lyall swept him up into his arms. Remus' eyes deliriously fluttered and then snapped back shut at the change of positioning.

They took him upstairs and dressed him in a fresh set of intact clothing. Lyall settled him into the middle of their bed. Hope laid a blanket over their radiator to warm up for him and turned up the dial to heat the room.

Lyall skillfully applied some dittany on a few bloody scratches on Remus' arms. He watched in relief as they magically changed from cuts to light scars. Remus flinched slightly as his father treated the wounds.

"Da...*cough cough*" Remus tried to say and then reached up to hold his throat with a pained, scrunched up facial expression. He continued to cough and then just whimpered.

Lyall and Hope both dropped what they were doing and rushed to be right next to him.

"Yes, Remus, we're both here," Lyall said to him close to his face where he was slowly blinking heavy eyelids. Hope grabbed his little hand and caressed the top of his head.

"Sweetheart, it's done for now. You did it. You were such a brave boy. Mummy and Daddy are so proud of you. Do you need a drink of water?"

Remus nodded sadly up at his mother and then turned his head to lock his gaze on his father once she left.

Once Hope came back with the glass of water, she assisted him with taking many long gulps. Then he finally took a pause breathing loudly.

Then he coughed, cleared his throat and asked anxiously,

"Did I bite anybody?"

Hope set down the glass of water quickly on the bedside table to free up her hands. Then she lovingly held both of his cheeks and told him,

"Sweetheart, no. No. Nobody got bitten by you. Listen, you needn't worry about that that, dear one. Daddy and I just fine."

Remus closed his eyes and sighed in relief. Then his face suddenly lit up and he looked at his father. He asked hesitantly,

"Chocolate frogs?"

Lyall gasped and said, "Oh yes, Remus, of course. I feel like giving you all the chocolate frogs in the world right now, son."

Then he darted out of the room to go fetch them.