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John introduced Nigel Bottomsworth, he was the representative from the Werewolf Registry, and Emily Robenblatt, from Werewolf Support Services, to Heather. John had spoken to them a few times before, when there was a werewolf bite, but he never about their jobs. That was usually between them and the families of the person that was bitten.

“John, Heather have you decided what you are going to do with your son?” asked Nigel.

“We’re going to raise him.”

“You know he will be the one of the youngest werewolves on record.”

“No.”

“We don’t know the effects it will have on him.”

“We’re willing to work with him.”

“John, you should have let him die last night, it will be harder for you to put him down once you realize how difficult it will be to raise him.”

“Nigel, he’s a child all children are difficult to raise we’ll just have one more thing to contend with. Remus is the only child that Heather and I can have. Please don’t question our decision.”

“Very well, after his first transformation, we’ll be back so we can tattoo his number on him. I need to examine where the bite mark is.”

John took him to see Remus who was still sleeping.

Emily was quiet through the discussion with Nigel. She turned to Heather and started to give her speech.

“Heather, we at the Werewolf Support Services are here to help with the transition of lycanthropy. We do not judge decisions made by parents."

She handed Heather a piece of parchment, "Here is a copy of the Werewolf Code of Conduct, of course most of these don’t apply to your son just yet.”

“Remus, my son’s name is Remus.”

“You will need somewhere safe so he can transform. It is important that neither one of you are with him when the full moon rises. Despite what it looks like in the sky the moon is only really full once a month. This is the day he will transform. If he gets out and hurts someone during a transformation the Werewolf Capture Unit will come for him. Depending what was done he would probably go to Azkaban if he attacked but didn’t infect anyone.”

“And if Remus did?”

“Then he would have a hearing in front of the Department for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures.”

“But he’s a boy.”

“He is now a creature, a dark creature at that. He will be feared and loathed by everyone. Maybe except other werewolves. It is a hard road that you and your husband are about to embark. Because he’s very young, I imagine the transformations will be very hard on him. You’re lucky your husband is a healer. You won’t have to bring him here after transformations if you follow procedure for locking up the werewolf properly.”

John and Nigel approached the sleeping Remus. John pointed to the crescent scar on his right shoulder.

“Here is the initial bite wound.”

“Initial?”

He showed the healing marks on his torso and back. He bit right through the flesh front to back.

“This is Greyback’s work,” said John.

“I thought he left the country.”

“He’s back.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

How stupid it was of him to burn the note. “No.”

“We’ll have the Werewolf Capture Unit along with the Aurors be on the lookout for him. I’m sorry John. Was he a wizard?”

“I imagine he still is.”

“Not without the proper training, and no school of magic will allow him.”

John hadn’t even thought of that, Remus would never step a foot into Hogwarts.

Nigel and Emily left, leaving John and Heather with numerous parchments and instructions, but most important was where his transformations would take place, and make sure he attacked no one.

Finally on August 14th Remus woke up. Heather was by his bedside.

“Where am I?”

“At Daddy’s work.”

Remus looked at the calendar, “Is today the 14th?”

“Yes sweetheart.”

“We need to get dressed, we need to go. The party is today.” Remus went to get up, but slumped back into the bed as he was still weak from losing so much blood.

“Remus, you can’t go to that school. The dog that bit you was no ordinary dog, it was a werewolf.”

John had walked in at the perfect time.

“John, please explain.”

“Remus your mother is right, every month at the full moon you will become the same as the dog that bit you.”

John could see that Remus was trying to work things out in his mind, “But how will that stop me from going to St. George’s?”

“We can’t live in London anymore and it is too far from our house in the country. You can still go to school, it will have to be in the village.”

“But I can still go to school?”

“Yes, Remus.”

“And I can still have friends?”

“Of course you can. But you can’t tell them about the dog, okay?”

“Okay.”

Remus eyes was starting to droop and soon he was back to sleep.


It was twelve o’clock at St. George’s when the owl arrived.

Dear Headmistress,

Due to an unforeseen illness, Remus can not be attending St. George’s in the fall. Due to the short notice, please keep the tuition.

Best Wishes

John G. Lupin
Really how rude of him to drop his son out on such short notice. Let’s see who is on the waiting list.

Later that afternoon at the reception the talk was that the Lupin’s son taking ill. The Potters were saddened by the news, maybe the boy was nervous about meeting people.

Gregory noticed that his son was looking for someone?

"James you look lost."

"I talked to all the kids but there was no Remus Lupin."

“From what the Headmaster said Remus had suddenly taken ill and won’t be attending school.”

"Oh too bad."

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Remus finally went home on August 15th . He felt better and couldn’t wait to see Merlin. As soon as he got home he ran to the stables. When he got to Merlin’s pen, the horse seemed ill at ease. Remus took a brush and started to stroke him and talk to him and this seemed to calm him down. He couldn’t wait to ride him again on Tuesday. John hated going back to work on Monday, but Remus was fine his wounds healed.

Seamus was waiting by the door for him. “How’s Remus?”

“He’s fine, you could never tell that he was bitten, maybe it didn’t get into the blood stream.”

“John it will take time for the wolf DNA to coagulate with Remus’ blood. The closer he gets to the full moon the more aggressive he will get maybe even violent. Don’t let these tranquil days fool you. Here are Remus blood samples the day he was brought in and here they are the day he left. See the growing cells? That’s the wolf. At the full moon the DNA will totally take over his blood stream and transform him. You know this. If he makes it through the first transformation, his life will exist based on one full moon to another. He’ll be ostracized through out the wizarding world. You and Heather will never be able to have grandchildren. You could adopt but with Remus' condition the ministry would never allow it.”

“Seamus, just come out and say that I should have killed my son! I love you like a father, you’re my best friend and your Heather’s and Remus’ godfather. But if you mention to me again about killing my son or turning him over to the ministry, I swear you will never see me, Heather or Remus again!! There will be twenty eight days where he is the little boy we have grown to love.”

“The wolf will always be there waiting for an opening to take over his mind. You need to be careful. He’s so young how do you teach him to keep control? Unless he can do that, he could become feral. No better then Greyback himself.”

As the days past John noticed some slight changes. Remus’ appetite was healthier than usual, but never gained any weight in fact he lost weight. Before the bite Remus was sorta on the chubby side, which his parents didn’t mind because he was so thin and frail at birth. Now he was starting to thin out a little, not that anyone but he and Heather would notice. He was also able to run faster and became stronger too. Remus was changing before their very eyes.

Remus had started school on September 6th, Heather noticed hair on his arms and legs that weren’t there before. It was only slight only a few. John took the day off from work so they could take Remus to his first day together. They were nervous about what Seamus said about the aggressiveness, but their fears were soon dissipated when they picked him up. The teacher said he was a little shy but a joy, and very well mannered. John and Heather beamed. What did Seamus know. The full moon was fast approaching thankfully it was on a Friday night. That Friday morning Remus woke up with a pounding headache, and a slight fever. It was if his body was trying to fight an infection. By mid afternoon the fever was very high and Remus was throwing up.

The mirror shook in John’s pocket.

“You need to come home, he’s really sick.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Seamus, I need…”

“Go ahead and good luck.” After John flooed out “You’ll need it.”

John was home within minutes. He mixed a potion that would hopefully make Remus feel better. After about fifteen minutes Remus fever was lowered and he stopped getting sick. He was pale and his eyes were sunken in, but he did feel better. John and Heather decided the basement was the best place for his transformations. It was large and had nothing in it. John placed a pillow and blanket for Remus.

“Remus, do you remember that you have to go to the basement tonight?”

“Like a sleep over.”

“Yes. There are some bad things that will happen to you.”

“I’m going to turn into a dog.”

“Yes.”

At dusk the Lupins escorted their son to the basement. There was a fortified door at the bottom of the stairs. Remus looked about and was scared, he changed his mind he didn’t want to be in the basement. He didn’t want this sleep over.

“Mum, Da, please don’t leave me here alone. I’ll be good I promise. I won’t turn into the dog.”

“Remus, you will turn into the dog. Mum and I will get you in the morning.”

John and Heather went upstairs they could hear Remus crying and pounding on the door, kicking it and screaming.

“I HATE YOU!!!” Then sobs “No, I don’t I really love you, please let me out.” That was the last intelligible words they heard.

Remus was crying and banging on the door. He felt a surge of pain.

“Make it stop!!” He cried. Where were his parents? Didn’t they love him anymore? He was screaming “ NO!!” After what seemed as an eternity from when the screams started Heather couldn’t take it any more she ran to the basement. Remus saw the door open and ran to his mother and she hugged him. His body went rigid and his eyes started to change and before her eyes he was taking the wolf form. John ran behind her and grabbed her not a second too soon because the wolf mostly in possession snarled at them and was about to attack. They got out just in time. They slammed the door, ran up the stairs and shut the outer door. They fell to the kitchen floor and leaned against the door, holding each other for dear life. The screams finally stopped. He was transformed, what came next was shocking and terrifying. There were growls and barks like a dog attacking someone and then yelps of pain. This went on for hours. John and Heather did not move from their spot all night. Finally the noise stopped there were three possible scenarios going through John’s mind. He transformed back, he was badly hurt and was unconscious or he was dead. John looked outside and saw that it was twilight. He took Heather’s hand and helped her up slowly she was trembling badly.

“Clear the table off, I might need it to work on him.”

John made his way down the stairs, opened the door turned on the light. It looked like a butcher’s shop in his basement, there was blood everywhere, and lying in a pool of it was his son. He was breathing but it was very shallow. He picked him up in his arms and brought him upstairs. Heather could not believe her eyes. That was her baby. She was frozen. John was saying something to her but she just didn’t hear him.

John finally shook Heather “I need your help, he’s alive but barely. Go to potion cabinet and get me the blue flask.”

As Heather left to get the potion, John thought for a second maybe this is no way to raise a child, then he looked at Remus innocent face and knew he had to save him. He washed him up to see exactly where the wounds were. Some were very deep and could possibly leave some scarring. After taking care of the immediate dangerous wounds, they flooed to St. Mango’s. Seamus was waiting for them. He had a bed all prepared for Remus, they worked on his other wounds while Heather stood and watched. It was amazing how quickly magic healed wounds. Though it wasn’t just magic that healed them it was also the wolf’s metabolism. It sped things up, including digestion of food. Heather noticed for the first time how thin Remus had become due to the transformation, he looked horrible. After all the potions were administered and Remus’ health was out of danger. John sat down and put his face in his hands and cried. He could not stand to see his son like this. Worst of all it was his fault.

“Seamus, I’m giving my notice.”

“But John, you’re the best healer we have. Another department, maybe?”

“No, I need to focus on one patient, one cure.”

“You know there is only one cure for lycanthropy, one which you will not discuss.”

“I have to find it. I don’t know how many more mornings I can deal with finding Remus in a pool of blood, hanging on to life.”

“The first is always the worse you know. In time it will get better. I don’t think that Greyback has it all wrong. Embrace the wolf and the transformations will be easier, it’s when it’s fought that it is so bad.”

“Lose his sanity to the wolf?” John shook his head. “No.”

“John he’s stirring.” interrupted Heather.

Heather looked at her son, running her hand through his hair and with her other hand holding his hand. “Hi baby.”

“It hurts,” winced Remus.

“I know sweetie.”

“Am I all done? I won’t have to do that again, right?”

Heather looked away with tears in her eyes, how can she tell her baby that he will have to endure this for the rest of his life?

John came over “Hi sport, how you feeling?”

“It hurts really bad, da.”

“Here drink some of this." John handed him a goblet. "Daddy’s going to check your bandages. Okay?”

“Did I get hurt bad?”

“Yes son you did.”

“But I’m all done, right?”

John looked down, the back at his son and shook his head, “No, son. You’re not all done. But Daddy’s new job is to find a way for it to go away.”

“I hope you do.” The pain potion was starting to take effect, it was making him drowsy.

“What do you mean about your new job?” asked Heather.

“I quit my job here; I’m going to look for a cure.”

Later that afternoon Nigel Bottomsworth came by. “I‘m going put a tattoo on his wrist with his registration number it can only be seen with a special incantation. Only Aurors and employees of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures know the charm. Someone will be following up with you in the months to come.” With that Nigel waved his wand and Remus shook, but continued sleeping.

“Good Luck Mr. and Mrs. Lupin.”