The Cursed Creature

Chapter 5

Haunted by Guilt

Lyall had always thought himself a calm and clever man. That was until the one time he did lose his temper and it cost him dearly. The worst for Lyall wasn’t that this one stupid action of him had consequences, but rather that the consequences concerned his son.

If Fenrir had bitten himself it would still be awful for his family, though Remus wouldn’t suffer the consequences of his fathers actions and he would still have a chance to live a normal life. Lyall had hated werewolves and the words he said in the Ministry spiralled through his mind, repeating themselves in an infinite loop ever since Remus was bitten.

“Werewolves are soulless monsters”, “Werewolves are evil”, “Werewolves deserve nothing but death”. These were Lyall’s words and now that his own son was a werewolf he barely could look him in the eye in shame. Never would he describe Remus as soulless or evil and never ever would he want his own son to die.

The transformation had been way worse than Lyall had imagined it would be and the little creature his son turned into was nothing compared to a full grown werewolf. Even in his transformed state he was just a kid, a little if extremely dangerous cub.

It had been a surreal scene, when Hope and himself were watching helplessly how their only son screamed in his suffering while his body shaped itself into the form of the wolf. He was not proud of himself but when he saw his son like that, he was thankful for the silencing wards. It was hard enough to watch without hearing the torture his son went through.

Someday, when Remus would be older, he would have to tell him that Lyall himself was the reason he was attacked and condemned to live this cursed life. Lyall already dreaded the day his son would see him with different eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised if Remus would hate him for what he had done.

He had provoked Fenrir and said all these horrible things that didn’t and would never apply to his Remus. Still, his own words haunted him. When he told Hope what happened, she looked heartbroken. He could tell that she struggled with what he had admitted to, though his wife was as caring and understanding as ever.

She told him frankly that his statements had been unreasonably harsh and making them in front of Fenrir had been quite out of character for him. However, the only person to blame for the attack was the werewolf and no one else. He couldn’t describe in words how much he loved this woman.

He would continue to hate himself for what happened and feel guilty whenever he would see Remus suffering because of it, but it was a great relief to know his wife didn’t share his opinion on the matter.

His key task now was to find each and every option to make Remus's situation easier.