Five Things...(Remus Lupin version)
Title: Five Things...
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue.
A/N: Doing the "Five Answers Meme" over on my journal. miarr asked for "Five Werewolves Remus Wishes He Had Never Met".
Five Werewolves Remus Wishes He Had Never Met
i. He doesn't remember the bite that cursed him, isn't sure he'd want to even if he could. He remembers the before, the fear, the revulsion, the utter loathing the sight of the werewolf caused him (he didn't know that's what he was looking at, couldn't have known, but the instinct was there), and he remembers the after, the pain, the fever, the tremors of cursed magic flooding his veins. And the thirty-some years since, each with its own pain and sorrow.
ii. He didn't know at the time that the werewolf that had bit him was the fearsome Fenrir Greyback, that knowledge came later, and at great cost. He could have killed him upon their first meeting, or rather, he SHOULD have killed him upon their first meeting, but he hadn't known then, hadn't realized. Unlike Greyback, any human cursed by Remus' lycanthropy would have come about purely accidentally; unfortunate, regrettable, and wholly unforgivable. But Greyback sought them out, had sought HIM out, and if he had known it at the time...but it was too late. He had failed. Lupin knew in his heart that every child brought under Greyback's curse from that day to this owed their fates as much to him as to the wolf that bit them.
iii. Consciousness had returned to Remus with all the subtlety of a bludger attached to end of a jackhammer. The Shack creaked in sympathetic pain around him, as he ran a trembling, sweaty hand over his filthy face. Moony was certainly in a mood last night, he thinks, staring at the angry welts on his much-abused forearms. He turns his hand over and blanches the blood he sees there, even though he knows it is his own. In the darkest corner of the room, he catches a flash of movement in the corner of his eye, followed by a soft, miserable moan. He scrambles on his hands and knees, heart in his throat, and as he reaches his victim he gives a low cry, "Oh, Severus. I'm so sorry."
iv. The child (or cub, rather) is small for his age, tawny-haired with warm, golden eyes. It strikes Remus as odd, but perhaps it shouldn't, that Greyback's boys all look so very much alike, so very much like himself. This one was bitten extremely young, brought into the pack with hardly a memory of his parents, and he will never know any family except his pack. Remus must get past him, his mind already splintering away from humanity, and he is becoming more and more Moony with every second that passes. He growls deep in his throat, and the little one takes it for the warning that it is, bristling, but slinking away before his elder.
v. Bill Weasley firecalls him on a Tuesday, an odd occurrence indeed. He has largely separated himself from the Wizarding World, as best as any werewolf could, and most of his friends have accepted his decision (if not approving of it). He is shocked to see tears in the other man's eyes, and when asked for his help, immediately agrees, without thought of consequence. Days later, at the full moon, his strong jaws holding Bill's youngest in a vain attempt to keep her from biting her little paws bloody, Moony regrets ever having agreed to such human nonsense.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue.
A/N: Doing the "Five Answers Meme" over on my journal. miarr asked for "Five Werewolves Remus Wishes He Had Never Met".
Five Werewolves Remus Wishes He Had Never Met
i. He doesn't remember the bite that cursed him, isn't sure he'd want to even if he could. He remembers the before, the fear, the revulsion, the utter loathing the sight of the werewolf caused him (he didn't know that's what he was looking at, couldn't have known, but the instinct was there), and he remembers the after, the pain, the fever, the tremors of cursed magic flooding his veins. And the thirty-some years since, each with its own pain and sorrow.
ii. He didn't know at the time that the werewolf that had bit him was the fearsome Fenrir Greyback, that knowledge came later, and at great cost. He could have killed him upon their first meeting, or rather, he SHOULD have killed him upon their first meeting, but he hadn't known then, hadn't realized. Unlike Greyback, any human cursed by Remus' lycanthropy would have come about purely accidentally; unfortunate, regrettable, and wholly unforgivable. But Greyback sought them out, had sought HIM out, and if he had known it at the time...but it was too late. He had failed. Lupin knew in his heart that every child brought under Greyback's curse from that day to this owed their fates as much to him as to the wolf that bit them.
iii. Consciousness had returned to Remus with all the subtlety of a bludger attached to end of a jackhammer. The Shack creaked in sympathetic pain around him, as he ran a trembling, sweaty hand over his filthy face. Moony was certainly in a mood last night, he thinks, staring at the angry welts on his much-abused forearms. He turns his hand over and blanches the blood he sees there, even though he knows it is his own. In the darkest corner of the room, he catches a flash of movement in the corner of his eye, followed by a soft, miserable moan. He scrambles on his hands and knees, heart in his throat, and as he reaches his victim he gives a low cry, "Oh, Severus. I'm so sorry."
iv. The child (or cub, rather) is small for his age, tawny-haired with warm, golden eyes. It strikes Remus as odd, but perhaps it shouldn't, that Greyback's boys all look so very much alike, so very much like himself. This one was bitten extremely young, brought into the pack with hardly a memory of his parents, and he will never know any family except his pack. Remus must get past him, his mind already splintering away from humanity, and he is becoming more and more Moony with every second that passes. He growls deep in his throat, and the little one takes it for the warning that it is, bristling, but slinking away before his elder.
v. Bill Weasley firecalls him on a Tuesday, an odd occurrence indeed. He has largely separated himself from the Wizarding World, as best as any werewolf could, and most of his friends have accepted his decision (if not approving of it). He is shocked to see tears in the other man's eyes, and when asked for his help, immediately agrees, without thought of consequence. Days later, at the full moon, his strong jaws holding Bill's youngest in a vain attempt to keep her from biting her little paws bloody, Moony regrets ever having agreed to such human nonsense.