Chapter Text
2 years later
"Remus? Remus be careful, watch your step!" Hope called out.
"Ok mummy!" He replied, carefully stepping over the side of a sand box.
There was another boy around his age already in there. He was desperately trying to make the sand stay together, but it was too dry. He became more and more frustrated with it, until he pressed together a little mound with such force. Hope knew magic when she saw it and the magic flowing from that child's hands made a sandcastle before her eyes. His mother, who'd been sitting on the same bench as Hope started to look a little worried. Her hand was reaching for the little stick poking out her pocket.
"Oh don't worry, Remus is magic too." Hope assured her quickly before any assumptions were made.
The woman visibly relaxed. "I was worried for a second that he'd been seen by a muggle!" She laughed breathily.
Hope laughed along with her. "Well I actually am a muggle, but my husband is a wizard."
The woman looked interested. "Really? Wow that must have been so weird when you found out."
"It was a little odd, but he was so lovely about it."
"It's nice that you stayed together, I have heard of other couples separating because their partner never told them they were magic."
Hope cringed. She was lucky that never happened with her and Lyall.
"Oh look, they seem to be getting along." The woman grinned their two sons who were magically making sandcastles and chatting together.
She turned round to face the woman. "I'm Hope, by the way, and my son is Remus"
She smiled. "Linda, and this is Paul. Do you live in the village just over the hill?" She pointed one long finger over to where the village lay.
"Yes! We chose it specifically because it was a wizarding area. Do you live there too?" Hope started to get excited, she hadn't had a friend since Remus was bitten, and she got so lonely sometimes.
"We live in that road, you know the one next to the church." Linda peered over to Remus and Paul, who were both giggling over something hilarious. "You know, we should organise some play dates for them, they seem to be getting on so well!"
Hope hesitated, then looked over to the two boys. Remus was happier than she'd seen him in a long time. And it had been such a long time since she'd heard him laugh without restriction. Would it be such a bad thing to give her child happiness? He needed to be social, otherwise he'd grow up lonely and unable to make friends. But Lyall's voice told her not to. He'd told her so many things that other wizards believed about werewolves. The prejudice ran deep within wizarding society.
Hope scrambled to cover up her pause. "Oh I - I'm very busy sometimes, I'll have to think about it." She cringed, she was always so bad at lying.
Linda smiled, though looked a little put out. "That's a shame, Paul doesn't have that many friends you see, he got the shyness from his father."
Once again, Hope looked over to Remus and Paul.
"You know," She started slowly. "we can probably work something out, I'm sure I can find the time."
Remus and Paul came running back to their respective parents at the call telling them it was time to go.
"Mummy can we come to the park again!" Remus asked excitedly.
"Mummy can we go as well so we can play in the sand box?" Paul tugged on Linda's cardigan.
"Of course we can!" Linda ruffled his hair. "But right now we have to go home because Daddy's waiting for us." She stood up, holding his hand. "I'll send you an owl." She smiled at Hope.
Hope smiled back and sat Remus onto her lap. "What do you think of Paul then?"
"He's so funny and we're friends now." Remus turned round to look up at her. "Can he come round so I can show him my rock collection?" He asked innocently.
Hope pursed her lips in thought. "I - I don't know honey."
Remus looked a little put out. "But - I don't have any friends, so why can't he be my friend?"
"I - I'll have to talk with daddy." She said quickly, averting his stare. "Come on now, I need to get dinner ready for when daddy comes home." They stood up, hands clasped and walked back to their house.
Remus was fast asleep upstairs while Hope and Lyall had a late night dinner. Since he was bitten they both stayed up a little later. Just to make sure.
"Not hungry?" He gave Hope a concerned look.
She paused pushing the food around her plate. "Lyall," She started uneasily. "Remus is so lonely. He needs friends and -"
"Love, you know why we can't do this." He reached out a comforting hand and rubbed her arm. "Yes, he is lonely, but I'd rather he be lonely than have to learn about the prejudice wizards hold. Not this young, I want to at least be able to protect him from that." Lyall looked depressed for a moment then sighed. "I'm sorry. But we can't trust that his secret won't be safe."
She gave him a sad smile as an answer and pushed her plate away to get ready for bed.
Paul climbed up to the top of the apparatus and sat there. "Come on, it's easy!" He laughed.
They were back in the playground where they first met, about a week later. Remus had found himself very bored in the short time he had been away from Paul. Another boy his age had brought some brightness back into his life and Remus felt dull and grey without it.
Hope watched them from the park bench, while Linda chatted away in a very one-sided conversation. Before sending an owl saying that Friday would be good to bring Paul to the park on Friday, she'd had a very long internal battle. Lyall had dismissed all her attempts to discus Remus' social life. As a child, they'd both been introverts but still were very socially adaptable. The risk of Remus growing up lonely and isolated was too high and Hope couldn't let that happen.
Though just before leaving the house, Hope warned him. "Remus, darling, don't say anything about being a werewolf." She said firmly.
Remus gave her a confused look. "But, Paul is my friend and-
"Yes but his family might be quite... against your kind." She cringed inwardly at the untactful way she put his condition.
"Oh."
"Yes but - but that doesn't mean he can't be your friend." She rushed in at the forlorn look on Remus' face. "Don't worry darling, all you have to do is not mention it and I'll sort out the rest."
Though at only six years of age, he was very mature about anything surrounding his condition. He bit his lip in thought and then nodded silently, taking her hand and dragging her out the door.
As Linda chatted away about her husband and his new promotion at work, Hope felt a horrible sense of guilt about lying to Lyall. He'd gone off to work as usual, and she said goodbye with a kiss and no word of where she was going to take Remus in the next hour. If she had told him he would be so angry with her. Their relationship was still strong, but having a werewolf as a child put a somewhat strain on it. Especially considering that (by her calculations) soon they'd have problems financially, Hope worried for their marriage. Due to Lyall's outburst that caused Remus to be bitten (he told her one night after she found him in tears when Remus got a scar on his neck) he'd also been fired from his job. His boss was also quite prejudiced and didn't want to continue to employ him as his son could be "contagious". It meant that he took a very low paying job in the beasts division that was far below what he could do.
"So what does Lyall do?" Linda asked, snapping Hope out of her internal conflicts.
"Sorry?"
"I said, what does Lyall do for work?" She repeated with a smile.
"He works for the Ministry, in the Regulation and Control for Magical creatures." Hope lied, feeling that Lyall's previous job was much more impressive than what he did now. "He specialises in Boggarts and Poltergeists."
"Oh that's so much more interesting than what Richard does!" Linda gushed. "Working in the Department of International Magical Co-operation sounds rather dull, but he enjoys it nonetheless."
"I always wished I'd had a magical job." Hope said wistfully, all thoughts of guilt forgotten. "Before I had Remus I worked in an insurance office. It was dreadfully boring...."
Paul pointed at the back of Remus' hand, where there was a slightly dirty plaster. "Where did you get that from?" He asked.
"My mum keeps the plasters above the kitchen sink."
Paul laughed at his ridiculousness. "No silly! I meant where did you hurt yourself!"
Remus looked down at the gravel. The ground was suddenly very interesting. He could have examined it for a while if he wanted to, but Paul had just poked him lightly.
For a fleeting moment, Remus wondered if Paul could keep a secret. "Oh I just, got - got scratched."
"By what?"
"A - a cat?" Remus had to admit that lying wasn't his strong suit.
"Of course. Our neighbour has a cat - and it spends all day in our garden. Mummy doesn't let me near it in case it scratches me." Paul softly rubbed a soothing finger over the plaster. "I guess your mummy didn't warn you enough?"
In a way Paul could be extremely wise. Even at the young age of six, Remus could see that. The innocent statement made in a moment of jest made Remus' brain go into overdrive. Perhaps in a weirdly childish way Paul had created a metaphor for Remus' condition. Because yes, he got scratched by a werewolf, and yes, his mummy hadn't warned him about how it would change his life completely. The thought of Paul's metaphor was oddly comforting.
It was only a scar. Scars went away eventually.
The tender yet firecracker friendship Remus had formed with Paul was wonderful. It sounded poetic, but Paul had given him happiness. Yes, he knew that his parents loved him and his mother did everything she could to make him happy. But Paul had given him something to look forward to each week. Rather than bake with his mother or read a book, he could play gobstones with Paul and play outside in the sand pit. For two months Remus lived the (almost) normal life a child should have. He'd found that it felt absolutely amazing to have a friend. It was a new but very welcome feeling. Until that day when everything stopped.
The window was smashed deafeningly and glass flew everywhere. Remus ducked into his mother's embrace as she screamed in terror. The glass shards drove into her and cut through the homely blouse. The other parts of their window flew into the walls or dusted the floor. The table also broke in two with a loud thud. After the shock, they both looked up, still in a tight embrace.
It was Remus who moved first, freeing himself from his mother's trembling iron grip. The thing that had smashed the window and broken the table was a heavy brick. Remus used all his strength to pick it up and examine it. Then he found the single word crudely etched into it.
Monster.
Remus dropped it as if it were hot coal, not caring for the echoing sound. He couldn't hear it over the ringing in his ears anyway. Tears started to well up, clouding his vision. A sick knife resided in his stomach and it was getting hard to breathe.
A heaving sob and his mother had turned him away and carried him out the kitchen.
"Don't worry, you can trust me."
The destruction of the kitchen, his mother writing a hurried letter to her husband, tear stains on her cheeks. This was all his fault. If he hadn't been so stupid, so naive to have trusted Paul wouldn't say anything then everything would be fine. Remus hugged his legs to himself and started to cry silently. Had he lost his only friend?
"I don't think you're evil, if you're a werewolf then that doesn't change you."
Paul's words had been so comforting, so insightful, so kind. The statement was one that Remus would reflect back on throughout most of his life. It was strange that a young boy could be wiser that most adults.
In the moment Paul had given him a small smile with bright, shining eyes. Remus didn't give him a long-winded explanation, just a short truth that Paul had been vying for. And for once in his life his condition didn't feel like a curse. Paul had continued to be his friend, to comfort him and play with him. Unlike the healers at St Mungo's who avoided him at all costs, as if he were a dirty animal.
The prospect of Paul thinking he was a monster was heart-breaking.
Remus glared at the cottage bathed in sunlight.
It was the mobs. It seemed that the brick was only the start of it, as just one week later there was a crowd of angry neighbours outside their house.
Remus hid upstairs to avoid the cries and banging outside. They were all brandished with wands, held up high, ready to attack. His mother had tried to make peace with the first man who hit his fist on the door. This was unsuccessful though, as he whipped his wand out, leaving his father to cast a shield charm and lock the door. Then the others came. Marching and shouting and screaming.
"MONSTER"
It was unbearable. Remus had never felt so terrified in his life. This was even worse than the treacherous wait for his first full moon. Even hiding under his covers, with eyes and ears squeezed shut, he couldn't lock them out.
"GET OUT OF HERE WEREWOLF"
His mother was frantic. She ran around the house, collecting all of the necessities for nights away from home. She didn't know how many possessions they would have to take, or if they'd be able to come back and retrieve anything she'd left behind. Clothes were tossed into a suitcase with an undetectable extension charm and the little money they had in the house went in her purse.
"FILTHY ANIMAL"
Even at the age of six, Remus knew of the prejudice and hate the wizarding population held for his kind. It was hard not to noticed the terrified faces whenever he stepped into St Mungo's. But he'd never experienced anything like this. His parents had skilfully hid his transformations and his tendency to look ill near the full moon successfully for about two years. Though this was all his fault. If he hadn't trusted so easily then none of this would have happened. Tears streamed down Remus' face as the shouts and screams that would haunt his dreams in years to come, continued.
The cottage bathed in sunlight was dauntingly beautiful. It was situated in an isolated countryside, surrounded by a picturesque forest. As far as Remus knew, they were the only people for miles.
Remus walked into the house, leaving his parents behind. He ventured into a few of the rooms, commenting on what was missing that home had. The stairs were more stable than the ones Remus was used to climbing, and led right into a room that he mentally claimed as his. It was small, but the sun shone through and you could get a full view of the forest from the window.
Remus looked out the window and felt himself start to cry.
Things should get better soon.