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That made his lips part some and he stared up at her a moment, then worried his bottom lip between his teeth some. He was taking this all very calmly for being eight. "Who are you?"
Remus at eight was more calm than Lily at twenty-one. "I'm Lily Evans Potter. I'm a muggle-born witch, born in nineteen sixty. And you, Remus Lupin, seven or seventy, are my best friend."
"I don't know you. I'm sory." He shifted from foot to foot for a moment, then backed a step away from her.
Lily nodded, slowly, standing her ground, but not moving closer toward the boy who she undoubtedly had terrified, even if he wasn't showing it. "It's alright. Don't be sorry. We just need to figure out what's happened and get everything settled. It'll all be fine." It all had better be fine. "Do you want to eat something first? It's still mighty early."
He shifted his eyes from her to the stove, then back again. And his tummy growled. "Where are my parents?" He wanted to hear something comforting, obviously.
"We'll talk over breakfast?" she asked, walking to pick up two of the plates. Lily had no bloody clue where Remus' parents were when he was this little, and they weren't in town. Not to mention the whole magical world was gone, according to Severus.
"..Alright." Agreed slowly, and he nodded, the moved for the table. He pulled out his chair, then climbed up into it, tucking his legs under him, then he folded his hands on the table patiently.
The redhead set the breakfast in front of him with utensils and sat herself next to him with a small smile. She pushed around her food, nibbling, green eyes on the tiny blue eyed boy. What was she going to do? What if this was permanent? What caused this to happen?!
"Am I allowed to talk at the table?" Asked after a few bites of food, and he looked up at her.
"Oh!" Lily's heart went out to her tiny friend. "Yes. Talk as much as you please."
"This is very good. Thank you." He finally offered her a shy sort of smile. "You know me..? Because I'm younger than I should be?"
"You're welcome," she smiled back, nodding. "I'm not quite sure what happened, but last night when everyone went to sleep you were nineteen." Bollocks. If Sirius was younger, too, Lily might have to cry. There was no way she could deal with a little Sirius. But Remus said that he'd woken up next to a man. Not a boy.
"I don't feel nineteen." He frowned some, clearly not understanding any of this. "Where are my parents?"
"No, I don't imagine you do. How old do you feel?" Lily took a small bite of her breakfast. "Your parents aren't here. They're not around." Someone needed a lesson on tact.
When asked that question, he bit his bottom lip. "I'm eight." But that hadn't really been her question. He didn't really know how to answer it. His parents kept telling him what an adult he was being.
“Eight," Lily repeated. An eight year old Remus Lupin was sitting in their kitchen, acting, pretty much exactly the way she imagined an eight year old Remus to act. Lily ran a hand through her hair. She didn't know aging spells as well as she should. But this didn't seem like an aging spell. Remus would have retained his memory. Unless someone de-aged him and then obliviated the last eleven years of his life. "I wish I knew what to do," she said, more to herself.
He pursed his lips and finished the last few bites of his breakfast before speaking up again. "Is there someone that we could ask that might now? I would like to go home, please." Announced again.
"We could ask Severus and see what he has to say," Lily started slowly, aware that the eight year old was being the adult in the situation. "Failing that, I think we could see on the forums if anyone has any clue as to what's going on."
He nodded once, decisively, and slid out of his chair, then collected up his dish and glass. "Then we will go ask Sev'rus." He had no idea who that was. But he sounded so sure of it.
Lily had an urge to laugh at the little boy. "Let's get you some proper clothes first," she grinned.
"Thank you, Miss Potter." He lifted his chin and locked his hands behind his back.
Lily shook her head slightly in disbelief. "Please call me Lily? Merlin, Sirius is going to have a right laughing fit when he finds out."
"Who is Sirius, Miss Lily?" He rocked onto his toes again. It seemed to be a nervous habit.
Lily walked over, and smoothed Remus' hair absentmindedly. "Another friend. The man from upstairs."
"Is he a friend of yours?" Eight going on twenty-five.
Lily nodded. "Yes." It...Merlin, was this going to be fun to try to explain.
"Would he know what's wrong?" He looked down at his robe, then back up at her.
Lily pursed her lips. "Wouldn't hurt to ask him. Feel like waking him up?" Lily might have had a twinkle in her eyes.
"Is he nice?" He shifted from side to side for a moment.
Ha. Was Sirius Black nice? She'd never use the word to describe him in her own choosing. "I think you could say that, yeah."
Remus breathed in deeply through his nose and nodded once to Lily. "We will go wake him up." Declared simply. And he would put his dishes in the sink (lifting onto his toes to do it), then he turned to face Lily again, waiting for her to lead the way.
Lily shook her head slightly, leading the way up the stairs and to the room that Remus and Sirius shared. It was a damn good thing there were so many bedrooms in this house. Remus could take one of the others until they sorted it. Opening the door, Lily walked in.
Sirius had been sleeping rather peacefully until that point. When a creaking noise stirred him from his slumber, he instinctively rolled toward the middle of the bed and reached for Remus. He came into contact with nothing but air and blanket. "Moon?" he mumbled, slowly beginning to blink awake.
"Sirius, we've got a situation," Lily replied, looking over at the groggy man. "Nothing out of the ordinary has happened between last night and now, has it?" She looked down at Remus with a small smile.
It was then that the young boy-- maybe eight, stepped in. He was wrapped in Sirius' warm coat, with the sleeves nearly dragging on the ground, and the back of it hanging like a train behind him. He had the same bright (but tired) blue eyes.. and had the tell-tale signs of the moon wearing on his face in dark circles and unnecessary lines. Like the young child hadn't slept in ages. "Hello." Softly greeted.
Rubbing his eyes, Sirius only half-listened to what Lily was saying. It wasn't until he heard the quiet greeting that he shot up and saw the child beside Lily in the doorway. "Holy shit!"
"Cursing, laughing. Close enough," she muttered. "He's eight. Watch your mouth." No need to mention that she'd already cursed a little bit. The redhead crossed her arms. "I told him how nice you were, Sirius, so start acting like it." The words were calmly stated, but green eyes were severe.
Remus' eyes had widened some when Sirius had blurted out those words and he stared a moment, before looking up at Lily.. then back at the dark-haired man he'd woken up next to. Then he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry."
Mouth parted in shock, Sirius looked to Lily almost frantically, then back to... to... Remus again, then back to Lily. "What... what happened? Is this a bloody joke? Because I have to tell you Lils, you really don't have your husband's flair for it." While teasing, it was impossible to hide the panic behind his words.
She looked down at Remus, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You've nothing to be sorry for." Toward Sirius, Lily shook her head. "I've no idea. Believe us, this is not a joke. I was hoping you'd tell me that the two of you ate something odd. I take it you have even less idea than I do what's going on."
"Is he my friend, too?" Asked up to Lily again, before he was looking back at Sirius. He looked sort of scary. Poor Sirius needed a shave. Remus pursed his lips some, unsure about this.
Lily nodded to Remus. "Yes, he's your friend, too. A very good friend." She gave his shoulder a light squeeze.
"I was sleeping in the same bed." Observed in a matter-of-fact manner. So old for being so young.
"Holy mother of Merlin," Sirius whispered. So this was really happening, then. He'd gone to sleep beside his boyfriend last night, and this morning his boyfriend was... a child. A far too observant child, it seemed. Obviously he didn't have memories of who he'd been before. After a short cough, Sirius managed to find words to answer. "Yeah. You-- you had a nightmare. Er, sorry about before. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just... a little touchy in the morning."
Lily raised an eyebrow, pulling her hair back with a stray rubberband. She doubted that Remus would take that explanation, but perhaps his manners would not let him question any further. Lily smoothed a stray piece of hair on Remus' head absently. "Just a little."
He was clearly not satisfied with that answer.. but he did take it well, and only nodded some, then looked back at Lily as she smoothed his hair. Seconds later, he looked back to Sirius. "Do you know what is wrong with me?" Quietly asked, though he was glancing again at the red-head. "You will need to lock me somewhere." Incase she didn't know that was what you did with werewolves. He didn't want anyone getting hurt.
: Oh, gods. Sirius couldn't remember the last time a single sentence had broken his heart so thoroughly. This situation might be... unbearably bizarre, but... that kind of horror in a child so young. Sirius had never really thought about the fact that Remus had dealt with this even as a little boy. It wasn't fair. "We know, Remus. But... don't worry, alright? We have ways of helping."
Lily nodded, kneeling down to be almost even with the young werewolf. "You should listen to him about this. He might be a bit thick at times, but he's right about this. And remember how I was talking about Severus? He's got a potion that might be able to help, too. So when I ask him if he knows what's going on, we'll get you the potion as well."
"That's Wolf's Bane." Simply replied to poor Lily, as if she didn't know any better. "And it's very expensive." Once again, it was a simple explaination. When he'd been young, it had still been experimental and was very expensive indeed. "I don't need it." Assured to them. "I just need to be locked somewhere safe. I can take care of myself." Helpfully assured.
"I have absolutely no doubt that you can," Sirius said quietly, swinging his legs off the bed to stand up and go across the room. "But you don't have to as long as you're with us, alright?"
He tilted his head back some to look up at the dark-haired man as he came closer. "I don't want to be a burden." Reminded easily, as he looked back to Lily again, then back up at Sirius, pulling up the too-long sleeves of the robe. He looked like a little boy in daddy's clothing.
Lily's face had a stubborn look, not entirely a frown. "You're not a burden, Remus Lupin. You're never a burden to us. Maybe we'll finally be able to convince you of that."
"May I please go take a walk?" Prompted with a glance up at Sirius again, before he looked back to Lily. He walked every morning with his mother. He would like to continue that. Alone.
Lily walked over, grabbing some clothes and transfiguring them as well as she could to Remus' size and handed them to him. "Do you want any company on your walk?"
"No thank you, Miss Lily. I know that you both want to talk about me once I'm gone." Smart kid. But he was taking the clothes and hugging them to his chest. "Where can I change?"
"Promise to be careful on your walk?" she asked, not having been alive for an eight year old son, she really couldn't find a reason to delay him. "And look both ways before you cross the streets and be wary of strangers and..." Lily stopped. She pointed to the other side of the room. "Bathroom's through there."
"Thank you." He smiled some at her, then at the tall man, and he moved past them both into the bathroom. It was five minutes later that he came out, fully dressed, mittens and all, and he came back to the pair. "I'll be careful." Assured.
"And back before it's dark outside?" Lily fretted. Merlin, was she ever good at fretting.
"It's ten in the morning." Helpfully, from the blonde boy. "I'll be back in one half of the hour." Promised.
Sirius watched the exchange silently, still trying to take all this in. Remus. A child. So young and yet... still Remus. Had he ever really been a child? Probably not since he was five years old. Gods... how sad. "Have a nice time, Moon-- Remus. Be careful." It felt difficult to talk, for some reason.
"I will." Promised with a nod. "Thank you." He rocked some onto his toes.. then turned and left the room, a bit eager to get out of the house, honestly. It was a little odd for the boy.. but he'd come to terms with it, eventually.
Remus at eight was more calm than Lily at twenty-one. "I'm Lily Evans Potter. I'm a muggle-born witch, born in nineteen sixty. And you, Remus Lupin, seven or seventy, are my best friend."
"I don't know you. I'm sory." He shifted from foot to foot for a moment, then backed a step away from her.
Lily nodded, slowly, standing her ground, but not moving closer toward the boy who she undoubtedly had terrified, even if he wasn't showing it. "It's alright. Don't be sorry. We just need to figure out what's happened and get everything settled. It'll all be fine." It all had better be fine. "Do you want to eat something first? It's still mighty early."
He shifted his eyes from her to the stove, then back again. And his tummy growled. "Where are my parents?" He wanted to hear something comforting, obviously.
"We'll talk over breakfast?" she asked, walking to pick up two of the plates. Lily had no bloody clue where Remus' parents were when he was this little, and they weren't in town. Not to mention the whole magical world was gone, according to Severus.
"..Alright." Agreed slowly, and he nodded, the moved for the table. He pulled out his chair, then climbed up into it, tucking his legs under him, then he folded his hands on the table patiently.
The redhead set the breakfast in front of him with utensils and sat herself next to him with a small smile. She pushed around her food, nibbling, green eyes on the tiny blue eyed boy. What was she going to do? What if this was permanent? What caused this to happen?!
"Am I allowed to talk at the table?" Asked after a few bites of food, and he looked up at her.
"Oh!" Lily's heart went out to her tiny friend. "Yes. Talk as much as you please."
"This is very good. Thank you." He finally offered her a shy sort of smile. "You know me..? Because I'm younger than I should be?"
"You're welcome," she smiled back, nodding. "I'm not quite sure what happened, but last night when everyone went to sleep you were nineteen." Bollocks. If Sirius was younger, too, Lily might have to cry. There was no way she could deal with a little Sirius. But Remus said that he'd woken up next to a man. Not a boy.
"I don't feel nineteen." He frowned some, clearly not understanding any of this. "Where are my parents?"
"No, I don't imagine you do. How old do you feel?" Lily took a small bite of her breakfast. "Your parents aren't here. They're not around." Someone needed a lesson on tact.
When asked that question, he bit his bottom lip. "I'm eight." But that hadn't really been her question. He didn't really know how to answer it. His parents kept telling him what an adult he was being.
“Eight," Lily repeated. An eight year old Remus Lupin was sitting in their kitchen, acting, pretty much exactly the way she imagined an eight year old Remus to act. Lily ran a hand through her hair. She didn't know aging spells as well as she should. But this didn't seem like an aging spell. Remus would have retained his memory. Unless someone de-aged him and then obliviated the last eleven years of his life. "I wish I knew what to do," she said, more to herself.
He pursed his lips and finished the last few bites of his breakfast before speaking up again. "Is there someone that we could ask that might now? I would like to go home, please." Announced again.
"We could ask Severus and see what he has to say," Lily started slowly, aware that the eight year old was being the adult in the situation. "Failing that, I think we could see on the forums if anyone has any clue as to what's going on."
He nodded once, decisively, and slid out of his chair, then collected up his dish and glass. "Then we will go ask Sev'rus." He had no idea who that was. But he sounded so sure of it.
Lily had an urge to laugh at the little boy. "Let's get you some proper clothes first," she grinned.
"Thank you, Miss Potter." He lifted his chin and locked his hands behind his back.
Lily shook her head slightly in disbelief. "Please call me Lily? Merlin, Sirius is going to have a right laughing fit when he finds out."
"Who is Sirius, Miss Lily?" He rocked onto his toes again. It seemed to be a nervous habit.
Lily walked over, and smoothed Remus' hair absentmindedly. "Another friend. The man from upstairs."
"Is he a friend of yours?" Eight going on twenty-five.
Lily nodded. "Yes." It...Merlin, was this going to be fun to try to explain.
"Would he know what's wrong?" He looked down at his robe, then back up at her.
Lily pursed her lips. "Wouldn't hurt to ask him. Feel like waking him up?" Lily might have had a twinkle in her eyes.
"Is he nice?" He shifted from side to side for a moment.
Ha. Was Sirius Black nice? She'd never use the word to describe him in her own choosing. "I think you could say that, yeah."
Remus breathed in deeply through his nose and nodded once to Lily. "We will go wake him up." Declared simply. And he would put his dishes in the sink (lifting onto his toes to do it), then he turned to face Lily again, waiting for her to lead the way.
Lily shook her head slightly, leading the way up the stairs and to the room that Remus and Sirius shared. It was a damn good thing there were so many bedrooms in this house. Remus could take one of the others until they sorted it. Opening the door, Lily walked in.
Sirius had been sleeping rather peacefully until that point. When a creaking noise stirred him from his slumber, he instinctively rolled toward the middle of the bed and reached for Remus. He came into contact with nothing but air and blanket. "Moon?" he mumbled, slowly beginning to blink awake.
"Sirius, we've got a situation," Lily replied, looking over at the groggy man. "Nothing out of the ordinary has happened between last night and now, has it?" She looked down at Remus with a small smile.
It was then that the young boy-- maybe eight, stepped in. He was wrapped in Sirius' warm coat, with the sleeves nearly dragging on the ground, and the back of it hanging like a train behind him. He had the same bright (but tired) blue eyes.. and had the tell-tale signs of the moon wearing on his face in dark circles and unnecessary lines. Like the young child hadn't slept in ages. "Hello." Softly greeted.
Rubbing his eyes, Sirius only half-listened to what Lily was saying. It wasn't until he heard the quiet greeting that he shot up and saw the child beside Lily in the doorway. "Holy shit!"
"Cursing, laughing. Close enough," she muttered. "He's eight. Watch your mouth." No need to mention that she'd already cursed a little bit. The redhead crossed her arms. "I told him how nice you were, Sirius, so start acting like it." The words were calmly stated, but green eyes were severe.
Remus' eyes had widened some when Sirius had blurted out those words and he stared a moment, before looking up at Lily.. then back at the dark-haired man he'd woken up next to. Then he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry."
Mouth parted in shock, Sirius looked to Lily almost frantically, then back to... to... Remus again, then back to Lily. "What... what happened? Is this a bloody joke? Because I have to tell you Lils, you really don't have your husband's flair for it." While teasing, it was impossible to hide the panic behind his words.
She looked down at Remus, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You've nothing to be sorry for." Toward Sirius, Lily shook her head. "I've no idea. Believe us, this is not a joke. I was hoping you'd tell me that the two of you ate something odd. I take it you have even less idea than I do what's going on."
"Is he my friend, too?" Asked up to Lily again, before he was looking back at Sirius. He looked sort of scary. Poor Sirius needed a shave. Remus pursed his lips some, unsure about this.
Lily nodded to Remus. "Yes, he's your friend, too. A very good friend." She gave his shoulder a light squeeze.
"I was sleeping in the same bed." Observed in a matter-of-fact manner. So old for being so young.
"Holy mother of Merlin," Sirius whispered. So this was really happening, then. He'd gone to sleep beside his boyfriend last night, and this morning his boyfriend was... a child. A far too observant child, it seemed. Obviously he didn't have memories of who he'd been before. After a short cough, Sirius managed to find words to answer. "Yeah. You-- you had a nightmare. Er, sorry about before. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just... a little touchy in the morning."
Lily raised an eyebrow, pulling her hair back with a stray rubberband. She doubted that Remus would take that explanation, but perhaps his manners would not let him question any further. Lily smoothed a stray piece of hair on Remus' head absently. "Just a little."
He was clearly not satisfied with that answer.. but he did take it well, and only nodded some, then looked back at Lily as she smoothed his hair. Seconds later, he looked back to Sirius. "Do you know what is wrong with me?" Quietly asked, though he was glancing again at the red-head. "You will need to lock me somewhere." Incase she didn't know that was what you did with werewolves. He didn't want anyone getting hurt.
: Oh, gods. Sirius couldn't remember the last time a single sentence had broken his heart so thoroughly. This situation might be... unbearably bizarre, but... that kind of horror in a child so young. Sirius had never really thought about the fact that Remus had dealt with this even as a little boy. It wasn't fair. "We know, Remus. But... don't worry, alright? We have ways of helping."
Lily nodded, kneeling down to be almost even with the young werewolf. "You should listen to him about this. He might be a bit thick at times, but he's right about this. And remember how I was talking about Severus? He's got a potion that might be able to help, too. So when I ask him if he knows what's going on, we'll get you the potion as well."
"That's Wolf's Bane." Simply replied to poor Lily, as if she didn't know any better. "And it's very expensive." Once again, it was a simple explaination. When he'd been young, it had still been experimental and was very expensive indeed. "I don't need it." Assured to them. "I just need to be locked somewhere safe. I can take care of myself." Helpfully assured.
"I have absolutely no doubt that you can," Sirius said quietly, swinging his legs off the bed to stand up and go across the room. "But you don't have to as long as you're with us, alright?"
He tilted his head back some to look up at the dark-haired man as he came closer. "I don't want to be a burden." Reminded easily, as he looked back to Lily again, then back up at Sirius, pulling up the too-long sleeves of the robe. He looked like a little boy in daddy's clothing.
Lily's face had a stubborn look, not entirely a frown. "You're not a burden, Remus Lupin. You're never a burden to us. Maybe we'll finally be able to convince you of that."
"May I please go take a walk?" Prompted with a glance up at Sirius again, before he looked back to Lily. He walked every morning with his mother. He would like to continue that. Alone.
Lily walked over, grabbing some clothes and transfiguring them as well as she could to Remus' size and handed them to him. "Do you want any company on your walk?"
"No thank you, Miss Lily. I know that you both want to talk about me once I'm gone." Smart kid. But he was taking the clothes and hugging them to his chest. "Where can I change?"
"Promise to be careful on your walk?" she asked, not having been alive for an eight year old son, she really couldn't find a reason to delay him. "And look both ways before you cross the streets and be wary of strangers and..." Lily stopped. She pointed to the other side of the room. "Bathroom's through there."
"Thank you." He smiled some at her, then at the tall man, and he moved past them both into the bathroom. It was five minutes later that he came out, fully dressed, mittens and all, and he came back to the pair. "I'll be careful." Assured.
"And back before it's dark outside?" Lily fretted. Merlin, was she ever good at fretting.
"It's ten in the morning." Helpfully, from the blonde boy. "I'll be back in one half of the hour." Promised.
Sirius watched the exchange silently, still trying to take all this in. Remus. A child. So young and yet... still Remus. Had he ever really been a child? Probably not since he was five years old. Gods... how sad. "Have a nice time, Moon-- Remus. Be careful." It felt difficult to talk, for some reason.
"I will." Promised with a nod. "Thank you." He rocked some onto his toes.. then turned and left the room, a bit eager to get out of the house, honestly. It was a little odd for the boy.. but he'd come to terms with it, eventually.