Cages and Fragile Men
27th November, 1985
Maggie spent four months in St Mungos. No one seemed sure of what to do with her. She couldn’t go back to the orphanage, the Matron didn’t know about magic and they had no space to put her anyway. The healers decided that the best course of action was to get her adopted by a wizarding family, but it was easier said than done.
Madam Blassen brought in a few couples, and they seemed nice enough. Maggie was wary of strangers, but would always have a conversation as long as they started it. The idea was that they would be more willing to help Maggie if they had a connection first, but they always saw the scars. They saw the scars and ran away.
Every single time.
“Miss Brenton-”
“Maggie”
“Maggie, Say hello to Mr and Mrs Grimate.
A mousy couple who looked like they could be cousins walked in with smiles on their faces and sat next to Maggie's bed.
She had her own room now. Actually she had two, but the other one was even worse. Maggie made due on the donated clothes and ate the boring hospital food but the room was the worst. It was all white, and there was nothing but a bed, a nightstand and two chairs. She smashed the Mirror and wasn’t given another one. She was told she was a monster, she didn’t have to see it.
The Grimates offered her a friendly smile, Maggie just scowled. She was restless, there was another full moon tonight. She felt like she was going to puke all day and had the worst migraine. She used to enjoy the full moon, it was beautiful and she loved how whole it was, complete. Now it is her nightmare. The moon brought pain, it brought fear, it even brought her to this stupid white room.
“Madam Blessen said you lived with muggles before coming here, I’d love to show you the wizarding world”, the woman said.
“Lot of good the wizarding world did for me”
“Excuse me?”the man asked, his face was so comical, clearly he wasn’t used to being questioned.
“No one cared about me before, and you’ll run away too. Maggie rolled up her sleeves, showing off her scars. There weren’t many, but they were certainly noticeable. “I'm a freak”.
They stared at her eyes wide. Maggie roller her eyes. “Piss off, they all do anyway”
Madam Blassen told her off once the couple left. “They were a perfectly nice family, you didn’t even try”
“So was everyone else, no one wants me”
Madam Blassen, used to Maggie's unruly nature before a full, simply pursed her lips. “There is someone out there, I know it”
Maggie shoved past the nurse and stepped into the hallway. Strictly speaking she was not allowed to leave the third ward, it was designated for magical creature attacks and kept her secluded for others. Not many knew there was an 11 year old werewolf roaming around.
Maggie was eleven now, her birthday passed around two months ago, at the end of September. It wasn’t very exciting, she had a small cupcake and was given a set of markers that was donated from the care bin. She was extra irritated since it was a day before the full moon. As far as birthdays go, it wasn't great.
“Maragret Brenton get back here” Madam Blasen called out. “It's getting late, I can’t have you running off. Not tonight”, there was extra emphasis on the last word.
Maggie sighed and returned to her little room. She knew it would be bad if she wasn’t accounted for tonight. The ministry would take her away, that much was made very clear. As much as she disliked St Mungos, at least Madam Blassen was nice enough, even if everyone else avoided her.
The rest of her night was spent reading until a man came and collected her. It was always a man in black clothes with a wand, she was too dangerous for anyone else apparently. They walked to the same room they always did, located down the stairs and at the end of a hallway. There were three cells, all plated with silver, supposedly for werewolves who were admitted during a full moon. No one was ever there besides her though.
The cell was bare except for a small cot. The door had silver in it and Maggie puked the first time she went near it.
The wolf started to claw its way out and Maggie screamed. She screamed every time so far, no one came to help her. No one tried to make her feel better. They would just throw her in a cage, patch her up, glare at her, and throw her back into her little white room.
The morning after was always a little fuzzy. She woke up with a few scratches and could hear everything. She was tired and crawled into the cot and cried.
She woke up again to Madam Blassen with her clothes and a magic stretcher to bring her back to the little room. She had a fever and wouldn’t do anything but sleep, everything else took up too much energy. Mid afternoon rolled around and she was able to stomach some food. There was a tray of sandwiches and a glass of water on the nightstand and Maggie picked at it before falling asleep again. This was only her fourth moon here,in her life actually, but she could not remember a time where her life didn’t revolve around the comings and goings of the moon.
“Go away,” Maggie called out. She had no idea who it was, but she could hear the footsteps outside of her door from a mile away. But it wasn’t right. This time there were three footsteps. She tried listening, if there was someone else on this level, they might be like her.
“-slipped on some ice when apperating, hasn’t woken up and it was a rough night. Tried waiting it out but it’s been hours” a man said. He sounded frantic.
Rough night? Maggie wished she could trade places with this mystery man, she would take a slip over ripping her skin off any day. Men are so fragile. Now aggravated, Maggie stopped listening. The next ward was for broken bones and other non magical injuries, and ‘important families’ passed through here to avoid all other crowds. She didn’t care who they were, they weren’t like her.
***
Remus woke up startled. He was in a bed, but not his bed. “Sirius?”
No one was there. “Sirius” Remus was panicking now, more than he would like to admit. He tried to move but his legs wouldn’t budge, he was stuck. “Fuck”
Nothing out of the ordinary happened last night. They went to some forest in southern England but he could not remember much about waking up. Sirius gave him a blanket with a warming charm and he fell asleep in the cold. So what the hell happened?
Sirius walked in with a worried face holding two cups. Remus tried to relax a little. Sirius is here, he’s alright, Sirius isn’t hurt.
“Hi Moony, I brought some tea” he gave Remus the cup and pulled up a little wooden chair right next to his bed.
“What time is it?”
“Just after five, brought you in around eleven”
“That was hours ago, have you been here the whole time?”
“Well no, I left for the bathroom once, and for some lunch”
Remus scoffed, “You know what I mean, what even happened”
Sirius exhaled and scratched his head, unsure of where to start. “You were fine all night but were extra woozy when you turned back, passed out instantly. I waited around for you to wake up but you started shivering and I knew you shouldn’t be out in the cold” Remus stared at him, unsure of where this was going. “I apparated with you back, you were up a bit groggy, probably don’t remember much, Melin it was my fault”
“Sirius, I'm sure it wasn’t your fault”. Remus sat his cup down and reached for his husbands hands, cupping them in his own”
“Should of a waited, then you wouldn’t be here, I know you hate hospitals”
Remus couldn’t help but agree. The only hospital he actually liked was the Hogwarts infirmary, but that was mainly because of Poppy Pomfrey. Seeing as it wasn’t an option anymore, he tried to avoid St Mungos. They never gave him proper care because of his lycanthropy, and he heard all the rude things the healers said when they thought he couldn’t.
“Sirius what happened”, Remus said, now with a much firmer voice.
“Apparated back and it was icy, you slipped and fell on your bad hip and went unconscious. I panicked, had no idea what to do so I brought you here” Sirius was starting to tear up. “I'm so sorry moony I panicked, you haven't woken up all day, I was scared”
“It’s okay pads, it was just a little slip, im fine, im breathing, i'm staring at your stupid and beautiful face”, he placed their shared bundle of hands over his beating heart.
“You think my face is beautiful?” Remus rolled his eyes , “Why can’t I move my legs?”
“They immobilized it while your hip heals, broke your leg too, fell on it funny. I’ll go get a healer, don’t move.” Sirius gave Remus a quick kiss and bolted out of the room, determined to spend as little time as possible away from his husband.
***
It took Sirius ten minutes to find a healer and an extra twenty to find someone who didn’t have an excuse once they figured out they were needed in unit 3. Sirius knew that werewolves were discriminated against, but it was shocking when he was confronted with the bulk of it.
Sirius brought the healer back and he removed the bind on Remus’s legs but advised him to sit still until he can have a proper checkup.
“When’s that going to be” he demanded, “It took thirty bloody minutes just to get someone to come down here, you’re going to see that my husbands healed”
The healer made a sour face at the mention of husband, strictly speaking they were not legally married, werewolves weren’t allowed.
Remus just grabbed his hand “It's alright love, no need to yell”
“I’ll get the attending healer, she’s the one who did the assessment”
“Bloody git”, Sirius said once the healer was out of the room.
“Have a seat love you’re clearly just stressed out, and i'm too knackered to mind sitting in bed for a little longer, why don’t you go get some more tea? Who knows how long we will be here”
“I think i’ll go and beat the d- ” Remus gave him another look, “the dinner rush and grab some more tea”
This was definitely a new record. Sirius managed to go to the kitchens for tea and back in fifteen minutes. He passed some empty rooms in the third ward, but heard yelling in the last one. Slightly curious he walked a little slower”
“You can not just do as you please, Do I need to explain what will happen if you start causing trouble?” Sirius recognized this voice as healer Blassen. The little git must not have told her Moony was awake.
“I don’t want to be here anymore, I don’t want to meet anyone new, I didn’t ask to be a monster, the least you can do is send me to be with others”, a little girl's voice cried. Now Sirius was curious. This girl sounded like moony during their first year, and she was in the third ward. He had to alert healer Blassen about Remus, so it would only be reasonable for him to walk over. Yes, perfectly reasonable.
Sirius knocked on the door.