First Full Moon
Sunday, September 5, 1971
The days following their arrival at Hogwarts were exciting, but slow. They were fed information about classes and given maps to help navigate the castle, as well as warnings about the moving staircases, and many other magical things in the castle.
Then Sunday arrived, all the excitement was forgotten. Remus woke up groaning, his head ached, his back and neck would twinging horrifically whenever he moved. He could hear every little sound his dorm mates made while they slept, Peter’s soft snoring, James rustling the sheets as he moved in his sleep, and Sirius’ hands twitching as he dreamt; it all added to the pounding headache behind his eyes. Above all else, Remus was starving. The wolf inside him clawing at his stomach for food.
Remus got out of bed slowly, moving to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face, it did nothing, so he stifled his groan and got ready for breakfast.
Eventually, the other boys woke up, and somehow sensing Remus’ horrid mood, they gave him a wide berth. He laid face down on his bed, mumbling incoherent words when James asked if he was okay.
When the boys were ready to head down to breakfast, they poked and prodded at Remus, trying to coax him into going down with them. In the end, James and Sirius hoisted him up and locked each of his arms in one of theirs, practically dragging him down to the great hall, all the while, Remus scowled, muttering curses under his breath.
At the Gryffindor table, Remus put his head in his hands and closed his eyes, trying to block out the extra sound, light, and smells that added to his headache. Someone tugged at his wrists and he raised his head, finding the worried eyes of Sirius, Peter and James pinned on him, Sirius dropped Remus’ writs from where he had pulled them away from his face, and pushed a warm mug of coffee towards Remus, “I heard coffee helps with headaches,” he said softly, curiosity lacing his tone. Remus sighed, picking up the mug and taking a deep drag from it. “Thanks,” he mumbled.
“What’s wrong with you anyways?” Sirius questioned, “You look like shit,” Remus glowered over the lip of the mug.
“Just got a headache.”
Sirius’ eyebrow flicked up,“Looks like more than a headache, lad, you’re not eating.” Remus looked down at his plate, where a piece of toast with barely a bite taken out of it, and an untouched pile of scrambled eggs still sat.
“M’not hungry,” he grumbled, even as his stomach protested.
“Yeah right,” James cut in, concern filling his eyes, “In the five days I’ve known you, you’ve never missed a meal, especially not breakfast. You’ve gotta eat something, mate.” Remus rolled his eyes, muttering ‘fine,’ he put the mug of coffee down and began scooping forkfuls of scrambled eggs into his mouth, they tasted like ash.
Once he has finished the eggs, he put his fork down and raised his eyebrows at James, “Better?” The tanned boy just nodded, pursing his lips, while Sirius grinned that infuriating grin and picked up Remus’ unfinished toast with margarine and took a huge bite out of it.
That’s when the owls decided it was time to make their entrance. Hundreds of screeching birds swooped into the great hall, dropping packages and mail into the awaiting hands of the students. Remus scowled again, rubbing his temples, “Stupid owls.” A small package was dropped from an old looking owl onto Peter’s blonde head, casing him to shriek and drop his toast, spilling over his hot cup of tea, right onto James’ pants. The other boy cursed loudly, jumping up, “Hot, hot hot! Pete, you idiot!”
Remus’ head snapped up, causing his neck to twinge violently. The combined pain from his neck, back, and headache all fueled his growing agitation, “Would you two wankers shut the bloody hell up,” he snapped angrily at the boys, leaving coffee and half-eaten breakfast, and standing up, he turned on his heel and stalked away from the stunned faces of the other boys. Sirius called after him, “Remus, wait, Peter didn’t mea-” Remus cut him off angrily,
“Piss off, Black.”
***
He headed back to their dorm, grabbing his map of Hogwarts, before quickly exiting back through the porthole. He navigated his way around the castle, searching for a secluded place away from any loud noises or bright lights. Eventually, he found a small alcove behind a large portrait of an old witch sitting in a large armchair, she tutted loudly as he pulled the framed panting aside and slipped into the dark space.
Hours later, Remus’ headache had faded to a dull throb in the back of his head, and he deemed it safe to head back into civilisation. He marked the alcove on the map and stuffed it into his robe pocket before exiting. Remus wandered the halls for a while, marvelling at the beautiful architecture surrounding him.
A group of three girls passed him, a tall-ish blonde girl, a dark skinned girl, and the girl with flaming red hair from the platform. Remus had no idea who any of them were, even though they were all in his house, but classes wouldn’t start till the next day, so he would leave socialising until then.
Remus turned the corner and walked straight into the greasy haired boy from the platform, Remus’ face twisted involuntarily into a frown. He could see his friends at the end of the hallway and he tried to walk around the greasy haired boy, but he was stopped by a wand jabbing rudely into his sternum. A sneer curved the other boys’ lips, “Do you know who you just rudely walked into?” He snapped and Remus raised his hands before him, slowly backing away from the intimidating wand.
“No, actually, I don’t, but do you know how to wash your hair?” Remus chuckled as the other boys’ sneer deepened into a scowl and his wand was shoved into Remus’ personal space again.
James and Sirius -apparently having noticed the little kerfuffle- approached, Peter shuffled behind timidly. “Oi, Snapey,” Sirius called tauntingly, “no need to get all ‘wandsy.’ Remus here was just concerned about the state of your hair, it can’t be healthy.” He shook his head in mock concern and James grinned.
‘Snapey’ -as Sirius has called the boy- huffed indignantly and stormed off in the opposite direction.
James and Sirius turned tentatively to Remus, concern filling their expressions again, “Alright, lad?” James asked softly, “You disappeared before we could apologise about breakfast,” Peter appeared behind James, nodding along to the taller boys’ words -Remus realised Peter did that a lot, agree with everything and anything that James said.
“Alright. There’s no need to apologise, I shouldn’t have snapped at you, it’s my bad,” Remus replied apologetically, scuffing his shoes on the floor. James reached out and put a warm hand on Remus’ shoulder, grinning.
“It’s all good, Remus, you’re feeling better though?” Remus nodded, then looked at Sirius. He opened his mouth to apologise to the diamond eyed boy too, but he beat him to it.
“No need to apologise, mate,” he grinned, hooking an arm over Remus’ shoulders as the four of them began walking towards the Gryffindor common room, “What was Severus’ problem? Good comeback with the greasy hair thing, that was brilliant!”
They giggled the whole way back.
***
Remus knocked on Professor McGonagall’s door. Hard. It was dark outside, and the evening meal had ended half an hour before. Remus could feel his bones groaning as they prepared for the transformation. He had snuck out of the dorm room with some difficulty, as James wanted his opinion on the best Quidditch team.
“Come in,” McGonagall’s shrill voice said through the door. He entered, immediately noticing the new woman -presumably Madam Pomfrey, as McGonagall had mentioned on the first day of school- in the office. She was a plump old lady, with rosy cheeks and a kind face. She smiled at Remus, “Mr Lupin, I believe Professor McGonagall mentioned that I would be accompanying you to the tree tonight? I am Hogwarts’ matron, so I will take care of any injury’s you obtain over the night.” Remus nodded, fidgeting with his sleeves. McGonagall pushed open the door,
“Shall we?”
They walked out onto the grounds of Hogwarts, all the way to a massive tree that twitched and swung its branches menacingly whenever anything came too close. He had no idea why they were at the tree, or how they would get closer if that was the ‘tree’ Madam Pomfrey had mentioned.
Before he could ask, Professor McGonagall stepped forward and her whole body morphed into a cat. A cat. Remus gasped, jumping back as the cat -his professor- ran towards the tree and laid its paw flat against a giant root. The tree immediately stopped moving and the cat morphed back into his Professor. Remus stood, jaw hanging open as he stared at the head of Gryffindor house. She seemed to wink at Remus, but it was too dark to tell for sure. The two women walked towards the tree and down into a tunnel in the roots of the tree, Remus followed dumbstruck behind them.
They walked through the stone tunnel underneath the tree until they reached an old, rickety door. Pomfrey pushed it open and beckoned Remus inside, “This is where you’ll be staying during your full moons. It’s far enough away from the castle to be out of earshot, so there’s no need to worry about that, and Professor McGonagall is going to put a powerful spell on it to halt anyone from entering or exiting.” Nobody can get in, and the wolf can’t get out, “We will be back at dawn to bring you back to the castle, and I can fix you up for school.” The old woman smiled at Remus, and he tried to reciprocate it, but a wave of pain gritted his teeth.
“You should probably go,” he muttered through his teeth. The women nodded, before turning and leaving, Madam Pomfrey gave him one more sad smile as she closed the door. He could hear McGonagall muttering some spell, and knew that if he tried to leave, he would be met with magic.
Remus paced the small shack for a little bit, waiting for the transformation to start. When it did, he groaned as a fresh wave of agony crashed over him. He started peeling his clothes off so they wouldn’t be destroyed during the night.
He curled up on his side on the cold wooden planks, allowing the pain to flow over him. He could feel his bones shifting, stretching, and growing to accommodate the wolf’s body. His skin prickled and then burnt, as if it was being peeled off of his body. He writhed on the floor in agony, a scream finally tearing from his throat as the transformation finally began.
Remus’ vision went dark as the wolf’s mind took over, his screams turning to howls.
***
Transforming back into his human body was just as painful. His skin retracting and reshaping, his bones squeezing and crunching back into shape.
Remus had a long claw mark down his arm -definitely going to scar, he thought groggily- and he checked the rest of his body for anything else broken, out of place or bleeding.
Content with the rest of his physical health, he stood up slowly, putting pressure on his bloody arm, he hissed in pain and started to search for his clothes.
Sometime later, Remus was lying on his back, attempting to sleep through the pain in his arm when Madam Pomfrey’skind old voice came through the door, “Remus, deary, are you awake?” The wooden door opened and in she walked, her wand in hand and her haired tried into a loose bun at the back of her neck.
Remus sat up, gritting his teeth as the movement jostled his aching arm. The old matron gasped as the noticed the blood and rushed over to him, taking his arm in her hands, “Oh my,” she exclaimed, “What have you done to yourself, dear?”
Remus stared at the old woman in confusion, why was she being so kind? Mary, Rupert and all their friends were always so horrid to Remus, it made no sense that this lady with gray strands shooting through through her blonde hair was being kind to Remus.
Nevertheless, Poppy Pomfrey took care of Remus arm, healing it with a flick of her wand, only leaving the permanent silver scar slicing down his left arm.
She gave him a ‘Pepper Up’ potion to help with the exhaustion settling in his bone, and sent him back to his dorm to get ready for his first day of school, a very concerned frown twisting her face.
***
Back in his dorm, Remus hurriedly got changed into his robes for the day, stuffing the necessary books into his bag, as well as his new wand.
The other boys all stared him down with quizzical expression on their faces.
“Where were you last night?” James inquired.
“Yeah, you didn’t come back yo the dorm, where’d you go?” Sirius shot, moving closer and studying Remus face, “You look exhausted, what’d you do to look like that?”
Remus glared at them, slinging his bag over his shoulder, “Mind your own business,” he started towards the door, “and hurry up, I don’t want to miss breakfast on our first day of classes.”