first full moon
January 12th 1966
Remus woke up to his mother holding his hand and looking as worried as she had looked those past days. When she realised he was awake Hope gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead like she didn't want to break him.
"hi, baby", she whispered.
"hi, mum", he answered weakly. Now was the time to ask what was going on, he thought. "what happened mum? why am I here?"
"oh, baby.", she started, "I don't even know how to say this... do you know what a werewolf is?"
Remus shook his head.
"well werewolfs are people who transform into a wolf once a month during the full moon and sometimes they just get a little angry, ok? this month a werewolf, who your dad knew from his job at the ministry, he came to you and now... well he bit you and...", she started crying but tried to stay strong for remus, " well you, my baby, are also a werewolf, but i promise we will do everything we can to protect you ok? You will be alright, I promise." She knew this was a lie but didnt want remus to be scared.
Remus was shocked and very confused.He didn't know what to think of this and propaply didn't even understand. He just said "ok mum" and went back to sleep.
The days passed and Remus returned home to their little cottage. This made him feel a little better. Sleeping in his own bed and sitting in the gardenchairs was way better than the white walls of the wizards hospital.
His right hip still hurt a lot and he had trouble walking which meant that his dad carried him through the entire house. This was probably the only good thing about all of this, Remus thought.
He had asked his parents more things about werewolfs and now thought he understood some of it. The result of this was that he felt very anxious. Remus did not know how to deal with the Information he had found out.
He constantly found his parents having serious conversations and they had not seemed happy since it happened. Hope was walking around stress cleaning everything and Lyall had a constant crease on his forehead. He spend most of his time in the garage. Remus had heard him say that he was trying to find a cure for remus' condition.
Remus also noticed that 3 weeks after it happened he still had not left their property. This, he did not understand. He was well enough to be in his garden, why wasn't he well enough to go to the village or to James's house? He missed playing with his best friend or on his favourite playground. He wanted to ride his bike trough the forest or discover a new place to build a fort in the woods.
This was one of his favourite activity. Before everything happened he went to the woods atleast once a week to build a fort or hide in the ones he had already built. He took old blankets from his house and sticks and wood from the forest. Remus used leaves to cover the roof that he build next to big rocks or fallen trees. He loved doing this, but now everytime he asked his parents they said it was too dangerous for him.
Now, having to stay in the house, he didn't have much to do. The little boy, who couln't write or read yet could draw pictures or play cards with his mum, but it just wasn't the same. He felt restless and nervous all the time and this feeling just got stronger as the days draged on. His short limbs started hurting and feeling weird but Remus didn't understand.
Another thing he did not understand was his father carrying metall and wood and other stuff into the basement. 'What is he building?', Remus thought. But everytime he asked, his dad just said "something to keep you safe". That was not very specific. Remus coul not quite figure out what he had to be kept safe of. He didn't even leave the house anyway, so what in the world could be that dangerous?
The evening of February the 5th, Remus's mother came into his room looking very worried. Remus looked up from his comic.
"What is it, mum?", he asked.
"Remus dear, I just need you to trust me ok? Everything will be fine. It's the full moon tonight. We talked about this and you know what it means. We are going to go to the basement and you will spend the night there ok?" Hope said to her son weakly.
Remus remembered what his parents had said. That he would turn into a wolf but probably would not remember much. This made him feel better. Remus did not want to know what it felt like to be a wolf. 'It probably hurts a lot', he thought.
He was certainly not wrong about that. The next morning when Remus woke up in the cell his father had build for him he felt nothing but pain. His body was full of little scratches and bite marks. The floor was splattered in blood and the metall walls of the little room with only one small window reflected his 5 year old body. he laid there waiting for his parents but they did not come for another hour.
The days after Remus spend recovering from the wounds, physically and mentally. He laid in his bed all day, his muscles sore and his bones aching.
He could not think. He did not think. His mind was a blank space, not working anymore. After a couple of days his thoughts came back but no memories from the night of the full moon recovered.
22nd February 1966
While Remus's parents walked up to the Potters house, Hope couldn't stop thinking about Remus being alone. What if something happened to him? Lyall had cast tons of protection spells on their house, as he was equally worrried about their son, but this didn't make her feel much better. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Still they had made the decision to come here. This was important. They had to do this.
"Hope, Lyall, It's so nice to see you. Come in.", Euphemia exclaimed with a wide smile on her face as she opened the door.
"It's nice to see you too. We're sorry we did not visit the last weeks but we need to talk to you about something", Lyall sayed.
Fleamont, who had come down the stairs, looked confused " What is it?", he asked.
"Let's talk in the kitchen", Euphemia offers.
They all gathered around the kitchen table and the house elf started cooking some tea. Hope started telling the whole story about the night Remus was bitten and the weeks following. When she couln't contain her crying, Lyall took over. He told a very worried looking Fleamont and Euphemia about the first full moon and the cellar they kept him in.
"That is so terrible, how is Remus doing?", Euphemia asked, her mother instincts taking over.
"As good as can be expected, I guess", Hope said clutching her teacup " he doen't know what to do with himself most of the time"
"Is there anything we can do to help?", Fleamont offered their assictence.
"Best is probably if you treated him as always when we come over. We don't want him to feel any change in his social surroundings. Ths is probably a lot to ask, but would you be willing to tell James? Remus needs someone who he can talk to who is his age. They have always been so close, it would be best if James knew."
"Of course we will. Remus has always been welcome here and nothing could change that. I am sure Jame will help him get trough this.", Euphemia assures the two.
And with that they all went back to normal. As much as they could anyways. The Lupins and the Potters had game nights. Even if not as often as before. The Pettigrews were told the next time they came over and the three kids played games that weren't too physically draining. Still Hope noticed a change in Remus's character. He was much more closed of and shy. He did not talk as much as before and wold often hide from his parents. REmus bit his nails and was very anxious being around people. Still James being there calmed him down a bit. She knew that there was nothing else to expect from a 5 year old kid who had went trough what he had went trough.