Remus Lupin, Swimming in Hell
"James sent you another note."
Remus looked up from the small desk to see Peter ducking his head through the door.
"Leave it, thank you, Peter."
Peter set the letter down on the cabinet by the door, not making a move to leave the room.
Remus turned around, in question.
"James sort of alluded to something", Peter began to say, "something about you not being quite… human."
The papers in Remus' hands all spilled to the floor and he gaped before replying, "Right. I think you may be mistaken there. I'm a hunter, remember? As in, I hunt monsters. If I was in fact a monster, then to honour my code I would need to kill myself. I look alive to you, do I not?"
Peter mimicked an unsure expression, squinting his eyes as if to study whether Remus was alive or dead.
Remus huffed a laugh, pushing his chair out and trying to pick up all the papers, "Very funny."
Peter closed the door, folding his arms and leaning against it.
“Staying in here, are you?”
Peter shrugged, “Everyone knows you’re here to hunt Sirius, to kill them.”
Remus turned back to the desk, “It’s my job.”
“Sirius hasn’t hurt anyone.”
“They’re a monster, Pete. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if they killed that specific person or not, vampires still kill which means Sirius is still a killer, and to protect other people I have to kill them.”
Peter nodded, “the same goes for werewolves then?”
Remus froze.
“If I was to see a werewolf, or suspect a neighbour… or guest. Your little organisation would come to kill that monster?”
Remus turned back around, “Only with the proper proof.”
Peter nodded again, “Someone who disappears for the entire night of a full moon, then in the morning and next few days they’re covered in mud, twigs, and blood and can barely walk. Someone with amber, animalistic eyes and scars, that seem from an animal's claws and bites, dotted in every inch of their skin. Someone with sharp teeth, especially their canines, and seems to always favour meat over every other food option. Someone who seems to hear and smell a lot better than the average human. Is that enough proof, would you say?”
Remus slowly shook his head, “Things can be explained. We’d only kill once seeing the person’s transformation.”
“Person?” Peter frowned, “A werewolf isn’t a person, is it? They’re monsters; uncontrollable savage beasts that would rip my throat out in a second.”
As seconds passed with Remus, struggling with an answer, Peter’s face slowly broke out with a triumphant grin.
Remus couldn't stand the sight of it.
“My mistake. Werewolves aren’t people, just vicious monsters. If you ever do suspect someone as being one, get in touch with me and I’ll gladly investigate, and kill if your suspicions are correct.”
The grin wiped away.
Remus grabbed his cane, slowly walking over to Peter, “Werewolves have an uncontrollable hunger, they completely lose any sense of humanity on full moons, they’re beasts.”
“That’s only one night a month. They’d be human the rest of the time.”
Remus glared, “That’s one way to see it. But I’ve studied monsters; not to say arrogant or overconfident, but I am a specialist in this subject, especially werewolves.”
Peter’s brow furrowed, “Well I happen to know one, and I think he’s pretty alright.”
Remus’ glare hardened, “Are you not scared of him? He could hurt you.”
“Nah, he’d never.”
“I think he would- accidentally on a full moon. And if he did, that guilt would never leave him, and you’d be hurt, badly.”
Peter grabbed him by his shoulders, “Mate. The fact you’d feel unbearably guilty about it means you wouldn’t, and if you did it wouldn't be your fault. I’m not scared of you in the slightest, you apologize to my mums for leaving tea stains in your mug.”
“They can be hard to remove.”
Peter laughed, “You’re the least frightening person I have ever seen, and you're a werewolf with a bag full of weapons to kill one of my best friends.”
Remus tried not to laugh, “This just tells me you have terrible judgment.”
“It should tell you that some ‘monsters’ are good people and aren't all inherently bad.”
“Do you really believe that?” Remus countered, Peter’s hands still clasping his shoulders.
Peter stared intently at him, “Do you think you’re inherently bad.”
“Once a month.”
“You're a wolf, nature’s dog. You roll around in mud and play fetch. Terrifying.”
Remus huffed, “I don’t play fetch!”
Peter just laughed, letting go of Remus’ shoulders and walking back to the dresser with James’ letter on top. Peter picked it up.
“Catch.”
Remus, without thought, outstretched his right arm and caught the letter before it hit the ground.
Peter snorted.
“Shut up.”
After he had gone down to dinner with Peter, he came back to his room and stared at the letter from James. The conversation with Peter whirled through his mind and he found himself unfolding the paper. He sat on the bed, resting his cane on his dresser only for it to promptly fall on the floor. Ignoring it as tomorrow’s problem he leaned against the bedframe and brought the bedside candle to the letter.
It read;
Remus,
I know you’re mad at me and it hasn’t been long enough for you to become un-mad at me, but please hurry up with your un-maddening process. I honestly don’t care if you absolutely hate everyone in this town, I know how self-deprecating you can be towards your own furry little problem. Although it majorly sucks that you can’t get on with them and want to kill them, lease refrain for my sake? I really like Sirius and I’m super in love with Lily and Regulus, Sirius’ brother, so I don’t think I could really be friends with you if you killed them. But, you remember that little mission I told you about? With Sirius’ family over in Purcaster? They’re all vampires and you have the freedom to kill them! As long as you join our little mission team and yes, work with the ‘monsters’. But you are one too and you’re not evil or anything, despite what you may think of yourself. They don’t know either, you know I’d never tell anyone. Although I think Peter might suspect something, but no one else does! They just don’t particularly like you very much, but you do want to kill them so maybe if you stopped doing that then they’d like you more. Lily already likes you a lot, and Sirius seems to!
Anyway, my hand’s getting tired, I hate writing. But please please talk to me again! I can explain more and we can all help each other! You like to be righteous and do your job and kill monsters, they want to kill Sirius and Regulus’ family- a perfect match! We’ll all be helping each other!
Love, James!!