Chapter 15 - Homebound Howls
Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while, actually, I haven't posted in a few months… I'm so sorry, but the new school year has been harder than I thought, and I have six classes to do homework for every day, and that's quite a lot! Hopefully you understand and I'll try to write more often, though I doubt that'll happen. Just remember that even if I am quite inactive, I haven't forgotten about writing this fic. Now as always, enjoy the chapter!
Remus put the Chocolate Frogs cards in a neat stack, wrapping them in the best paper he could find. It was almost Christmas, and Remus was making gifts for his parents. For his mother, he was going to give her Chocolate frog cards as she loved them. He had Newt Scamander, Jocunda Sykes, and Devlin Whitehorn in a neat pile. He was also giving his mother a short piece of poetry he had written once. He never was a huge fan of poetry, but he sometimes found it quite relaxing. For his father, he was giving a few owl feathers he had collected in the Owlery a few weeks back.
Once the gifts were wrapped, Remus slid them under his bed, and hurried downstairs to eat breakfast.
Remus' mother had laid out a soup, and a small piece of bread in front of Remus, smiling as he began eating.
"Where's Dad?" Remus asked, after swallowing his first bite of the warm soup.
"I'm afraid he was called into work early," Remus' mum said regretfully, and began cleaning a counter top, "He wanted to say goodbye to you but you were asleep.
Remus just nodded, taking a small bite into the stale bread. Remus realized he should have been eating better food, but his family had never been rich, in fact, they were quite the opposite.
"Do you want to help me with the garden today?" Remus' mother asked.
"Sure," Remus responded, eating the last bites of the red soup.
Remus finished eating, and he joined his mother in the garden. She had become quite interested in gardening ever since Remus had been used, she had told him it was relaxing. He looked around the garden, there were many different plants, Hawthorns, Roses, and some flowers which Remus never knew the name to.
"Could you get some water?" Remus' mother asked and Remus nodded, hurrying to the side of the house where a rusty faucet hung. He grabbed the hose near it, and hurried to his mother, handing her the old hose.
Remus' mother was now busily watering her plants, treating them as though they were her children.
Remus went inside and grabbed a book he was reading off the shelf, and then hurried outside, shivering in the quite cold weather.
"How's the book?" Remus' Mom asked, pulling out several weeds at once.
"Good," Remus nodded, flipping the page, "I'm almost finished with it."
"Well maybe your father can take you to the library sometime," Remus just nodded, but the
Closest library to his house was more than an hour away, and he didn't want his parents to drive that far just so he could get a book.
Remus and his mother spent the rest of the day in the garden, planting and trimming plants, and just enjoying being in each other's company. Finally, around sunset, Remus' Dad came back.
He walked through the door, wary eyed, and more so dragging his feet than actually taking steps. He put his hat on the shelf and kissed Remus' Mum on the cheek, smiling.
"Hello," Remus greeted, and he nodded, not coming to give Remus a hug. Remus just bowed his head sadly not expecting any gesture of affection from his father.
"I just warmed up some Kidney Pie awhile ago," Remus' Mother said, taking her husband's coat and hanging it up, "I'm afraid it's gotten quite cold though…"
Hope flickered in Remus' Fathers eyes, "That's how I like it," he said quite eagerly, hurrying towards the kitchen.
"Do you want a slice dear?" Remus' Mom asked Remus kindly and he just shook his head.
"No, I'm good. Thank you though." Remus said, and he saw his father hungirly eating the meaty pie, like a famished wolf.
Remus hurried upstairs, and into his room to change. A bit of moonlight filtered through his window and into his room, and with a shudder he realized that the full moon would be in a few days.
Suddenly, Remus heard angry voices coming from down stairs, and he realized that his parents were arguing. He pressed his ear to the door, though he felt guilty, he still did it. Remus gasped when he heard his name pop up in the conversation, but he couldn't catch the rest of what his parents were saying.
What could they be saying about me, Remus thought, and he shook his head, trying to rid of any bad thoughts coming his way.
Remus woke up early on Christmas morning. He settled down on the couch, reading a book, waiting for his parents to wake up.
Suddenly, Remus heard someone coming down the stairs, and he turned to see his mother coming down the stairs, a warm look in her eyes.
"Happy Christmas dear," she said, kissing Remus on the crown of his head, smiling.
"Happy Christmas," Remus beamed, returning the greeting.
"Morning," Remus' father said in the doorway and Remus hugged him tightly, and he just laid his hand on his shoulder.
Remus gave his mother the gift he had prepared for her, she opened the gifts enthusiastically, smiling as she held each item.
Remus' parents then gave him a gift. There was a book that Remus had been wanting to read for a while, and there was also a complicated puzzle sort of thing.
He thanked his parents, and then his mother began making a "special Christmas Breakfast," which smelled enticing from Remus' spot in the living room.
Suddenly, a banging noise came from somewhere, and Remus turned to see a large, gray horned owl pecking at the window. It held a small parcel in its beak and Remus was slightly intimidated by its large, yellow eyes.
"Oh, it's an owl," Remus says, and his mother looked fascinated by the fact that wizards sent mail, gifts, and other things with owls.
Remus opened the window, and the owl dropped its parcel, flying away, but not before it let out a loud Hoot!
"Who's it from?" Remus' father asked, taking a sip of his coffee that he had just made.
"Dunno," Remus mumbled, looking for who it might be from. Then, he saw that one of the envelopes had an address to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and right away Remus knew who it was from.
"Oh! It's from Sirius! My friend from school", Remus said excitedly but was surprised to see a suspicious look coming from his father.
"Sirius who?" he questioned, tapping his cup.
"Sirius Black…" Remus said, and his father stiffened.
"What did he send you?" Remus' Mum pressed.
Remus opened the envelope, which revealed a small piece of parchment, inked with rather good writing. It read:
Dear Remus
I hope you're having fun over the Holidays, and I wanted to send you something little! Hope you'll like it. My parents didn't want me to send anything so I used Drommie's owl, (sorry if he was a bit intimidating, he scares everyone, even Drommie herself!) Anyways, I hope you like the gift I gave you, which I stole from Regulus, he won't mind though, he has too much stuff to keep track of anyways! Have a great rest of your Holidays and I can't wait to see you at school!
From, Sirius Orion Black
Remus then grabbed the parcel which had a small maroon bow, which had to be untied before Remus could get the present out.
What was revealed in the box was a small, colorful, spinner top sort of this, which had a glass dome on the top. In the dome there was a pyramid sort of thing and a ball that would roll around if you shook the item.
What is this thing? Remus thought, and he saw a tiny piece of parchment in the box, it said : By the way, if you didn't know what this is it's a Sneakoscope, and it will light up, spin, and whistle when it's in the presence of someone doing something untrustworthy. I don't think you'll really need it but it may come in handy someday, who knows! Hope you like it!
Remus saw a warm look coming from his mother as she watched Remus. "You're friends really do love you, don't they?"
Remus just nodded, and he was suddenly very thankful for having the friends he had, even though they could be a pain sometimes, they gave Remus something he thought he'd never get to experience, true friendship…
Remus woke up early, unable to sleep with the fierce throbbing in his head. It's the full moon tonight, he thought grimly, grimacing as he began to sit up.
He walked slowly down the stairs, each step hard because of the dull pain in his side. He saw his mother in the kitchen, and a tantalizing smell came from what she was making.
"Good morning dear," she said and Remus grumbled his agreements as well, sitting on one of the high stools at the kitchen counter.
"What are you making?" Remus asked.
"Oh," she said, stopping mid way in cutting up some raw, succulent meat which made Remus' mouth water slightly, another downside of pre full moon, I start getting wolfish urges… "I'm making soup, the one you like."
Remus' mother had started making the soup ever since he had first been bitten by a werewolf, and she would make it every full moon. It brought peace in its warm, and nice taste.
"Where's dad?" Remus asked and his mother shook her head. He left for work super early, again Remus thought.
"He should be back early today," Remus' Mum said, and he hoped that was true.
"Why don't you go do something else," she said, "The soup will be done in about an hour," she finishes, pouring some meat, broth, and cut up vegetables into a pot.
Remus nodded, deciding to take a bath, which always soothed his aching muscles and joints.
Turning the knob, the hot water began spilling into the tub, filling it with hot water.
Remus began taking his clothes off, and he couldn't help but stare at the scars that covered his own body. There were so many of them, some small, and some large, and some that would stay there forever…
Remus felt the large scar on his side that he had gotten quite recently. He moved his fingers down to around his stomach where a large bite mark was, in fact it was so bad when he had gotten it that if he had bitten it one more time he could've punctured his stomach. He slid his fingers to his chest where three slash marks lay, they had been from when he was six, and he remembered crying for hours after that full moon… Then there was the one on his shoulder, a groove in his skin, the one that was the most significant, the bite mark from the werewolf who had transformed him, his first scar…
Remus shuttered and crawled into the bath, relishing the warmth as he lowered his legs in. It immediately sent pleasure through him, and as he sunk in, he couldn't help but sigh in contentment.
The rest of the day went by rather slowly. Remus ate some of the soup but not alot because he didn't have much of an appetite. He tried the puzzle sort of thing that his parents had given him for Christmas but that didn't do him any good either. So he just spent most of the day resting on the couch.
Suddenly, a loud thundering noise came from outside, followed by more thundering noises.
"The fireworks have begun," Remus Mum exclaimed but as much as Remus liked the pretty colors flying into the air, they made his headache almost ten times worse.
"I'm going to watch them for a few minutes," Remus' mother says gently and Remus nods, "I'll be back in a few."
How can I escape this noise? Remus thought, and he realized that maybe he could hang in the cellar for a bit, it was pretty secure and it was below ground.
Remus slowly clambered down the stairs, blinking in horror as he saw the scratches and grooves in the walls. It had been forever since he had transformed in the cellar, and he no longer wanted to. At least in the Shack at school it was bigger, and had lots of furniture to keep the wolf occupied, meanwhile this was an empty cellar, which made the wolf ten times more anxious and bored.
Remus looked towards the stairs, and realized with a sickening jolt that the wolf couldn't climb stairs, at least not before he had started transforming at school… What if I get out, He thought, trembling slightly.
A couple of hours passed and Remus noticed that the full moon was finally upon him. His head throbbed violently, and he could barely stand, no matter how hard he tried.
His father had finally come home, and a bit too late for Remus' liking. He ushered him down the cellar, looking around in the dim lighting.
"Well…" he said awkwardly, and Remus was sure he wasn't going to finish his sentence, but he did, "good luck…"
Remus just nodded before his father exited the room, and Remus was left with nothing but the darkness and his thoughts…
It's so dark here… And cold… Remus thought with a shudder. At least the shack at school had multiple tiny windows that could provide a little bit of light, but here, it was pitch black. Remus could barely make out where the walls were…
Suddenly, a spasm coursed through Remus' body, and he couldn't suppress a wail of shock as the gruesome transformation began.
My parents are probably hearing me now, Remus thought guiltily, They are probably ashamed to have a werewolf for a son…
Remus groaned as another spasm shook his body, the wolf mind was quickly taking over, he tried to fight it, but he knew he'd never be able to fight it.
I'll be a werewolf forever, Remus thought with a pang of sadness, and there's nothing that'll ever change that…
