The Wolf
He had always hated the basement. It was dark and musty. There weren’t any windows and the floor was concrete. So it only made sense that Lyall stuck him down here once a month. Resting his head against the wall, the small boy let his tears flow silently down his face. He didn't want his mother to hear him cry. He was too little to understand silencing charms. He didn't understand any of it really. All he knew was that daddy didn't love him anymore and mommy was sad a lot. So he read picture books over and over again. But daddy said no picture books down here. No, instead Remus was given a water bottle and a heavy set of silver chains. He didn't know what the chains hurt, why moving in them burned, or why he wore them. Daddy had said the floors were concrete but the door was only wood. Why did that matter? Why did his father, who had loved him just a month ago, put him in the basement. He was sick, had been for the last two days, and mommy had taken care of him, so why now was he alone in the basement weighed down by some sort of evil metal? Remus let out a small wimpier as he was racked with pain again, all his joints seeming to protest against him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his stomach lurched.
He couldn’t tell from the isolated basement, but the moon had begun to rise.
he woke up to blinding pain. He blinked twice before passing out, his brain becoming fuzz again.
—
“Mommy?” The young wolf croaked, barely a whisper. When he woke this time, he was in his bed, wrapped in bandages. He was confused, hadn’t he just been in the basement? Slowly he pieced together the events, the pain, the howls, the rage, the desperation, the pain again and again and again. He sat in bed, silent tears falling down his cheeks once again.
“Mommy?”
But Hope didn't come. Not for a long time. Lyall came to tend to his wounds with magic, not touching the boy. But hope never came. Why didn't his mother come to see him? He was hurt and needed her. Why wouldn’t his father talk to him, or look him in the eye? Lyall had always said looking someone in the eye is respectful. So why couldn’t his father look at him?
Remus lay in bed healing slowly for two days before he woke up in his mother's arms. She was crying and Remus didn't understand why. He was okay now.
“Mummy?”
He was met with hushed apologies and tearful breaths.
Remus wouldn’t find out for a few years that all had locked his door and refused his wife's entry till the ‘beast’ was fully human. Lyall Lupin knew he was human the second the moon set, but he needed a day or two without that monster consuming his life. For years Remus didn't even blame him. But after Madame Pomfrey had kissed his forehead the morning after his first moon at Hogwarts, he knew and he wished he could blame his father. He wanted to hate him, but really, he just wanted him to love him.
——
“I love you, dad..” Remus whispered before the chains magically wrapped around him, the burning and silence all too familiar.
He loved his father but was only met with contempt and silver chains.