1Year One
(Chapter one: Changed)
(1965)
Running with all the speed and determination a 5-year-old could muster, the young girl yelled back to her companion excitedly "Remus come onnnnnn!Let's go! Let's go!"
With the baby fat of her childhood melted away and the scrapes and bruises that came with adolescent playing, the girl was only a few steps ahead of her companion. She had only one destination in mind as she dashed along the pathway through her yard.
"I don't reckon we should Em. It's gettin' dark. Our mummy's won't want us out past the lamp posts comin' on anyways."
The girl, Em, did not even pause in her step as she continued to hop along, already reaching the underbrush that outlined the forest with the freshly trimmed grass. Her two short braids whipped around her face as she excitedly turned to Remus, waiting for him to cross the last few yards of the lawn and finally join her.
Despite the feeble attempt to discourage the girl, young Remus knew where he stood in trying to persuade his friend. And so in the best way a child could show disapproval, he apprehensively crept behind her.
Moments passed and little Remus soon found himself in step behind Emily, who had finally slowed in her pursuit to explore. As the light from the setting sun began to dim, due to the thick foliage covering them from above, an eerie sense of unease crept upon the children. Yet, that feeling soon faded as they walked along until light no longer shown through the trees, and the only thing illuminating the ground before them were the occasional fairy, and the bright yellow orb that followed behind them. A form of accidental magic that neither of the two seemed to notice by this point.
As children do, they found interest in the nature that they were surrounded by. Emily found her first interest in a sturdy stick that she could claimed as an absolutely necessary walking stick. The next was a series of nests that they discovered in the trees above them, before they came across the occasional tree with odd scrap marks, made obviously from growing bucks. Soon after that they found themselves occupied with bugs and various other wild life. And so on and so forth, they went. Deeper into the forest, neither of the two children truly looking back
Although less than eight minutes had passed in the time that it took them to travel through the woods, it seemed as if they had orbited the sun a thousand times, and years had all jumbled together in this very moment. It was quiet, yet the sounds of the wildlife was screaming into their ears. This moment was a strange one. A moment where almost like a movie, even the two children knew that something was about to happen. However, with full serenity, they had found themselves at the edge of a small clearing, the full moon illuminated a soft glow above them, and the orb that followed behind them flickering out of existence.
Neither of the two moved. Barely breathing, the only sound in the clearing being the tinkling and gurgling of a small, crystal clear river that cut its way almost perfectly though the middle of the clearing.
In an instant, there was a cracking noise. In the quiet of the forest it sounded as if a wrecking ball had just made itself home to a very large brick building. Yet, this noise was only made from a horse sized creature. Immediately turning their heads, and in the case of Emily, who had somehow found herself slightly behind Remus, stepping around him, the two saw a single Unicorn perched at the river bank. Drinking the fresh water, that was only 15 feet away from them. The sound was only from it stepping on a small branch. Nothing more, and nothing less, then a small dead, broken, branch.
They watched as the enchanting creature bowed its head, its tail swinging back and forth, as it continued to drink. Paying no attention to its audience, it gave a small neigh of approval after each sip.
Giving a sigh of relief Remus began to turn to his dear friend to suggest they go back, but the words never left his mouth before he was fully consumed with the commotion behind him and the shrill scream and wide-eyed look of terror from Emily. Quickly Remus whipped around.
What he saw would forever be imprinted in even his adult mind.
Gone was the essence of absolute beauty and in its place, was nothing but blood and gore, and a creature so foul, it froze the two children in their tracks. Giving an animalistic growl, the creature had a devilish snarl as it bared its bloodied teeth at the two. It's canine teeth looking sharp as ever. Its elongated snout, abnormal height and bony structure gave the illusion that it was a grotesque creature right out of a children's horror movie, and in all reality, that was exactly what it was.
Discarding the remains of the Unicorns torso, the creature- the Werewolf, slowly crept forward. As it's right foot hit the stream, disrupting the flow of water and causing a slight splashing sound, the two children hopped back in fright. Their eyes still not leaving the animal as it again took another step, its legs appearing to be constantly bent as it almost springs step by step forward. Like clockwork as the creature approached the children, the children retreated slowly.
Just as Remus had found himself hopeful in the idea that the two could possible leave the horrid creature in peace, it lept forward. Closing the distance between the three in almost a blink of the eye, Remus gave a short shout of fright before he was twisted and thrown to the side, blood pouring from his shoulder from a singular bite. His impact on a tree knocked the wind out of him so abruptly that he could not move. Emily, still clutching her walking stick, attempted to use it as a bat as she swung wildly at the beast before her.
All hope was lost when the creature grabbed the once sturdy stick from her grip, and broke it in two with its mouth alone.
Emily attempted to run but was quickly overcome with gilt as she remembered her friend that was lying only a few feet behind her. Turning quickly there was nothing she could do as she was seized by the creature, and she too was subject to the excruciating pain that overwhelmed her senses. The bite itself burned. It felt like the single drop of salvia was instantly coursing through her all of her veins at once.
Emily had no concept of the fact that she was trembling and screaming, her mind no longer in control, as the werewolf continued to toy with her body. The creature lifted her high above the ground, and gave her long scratches across her abdomen and thighs. And so her screams continued.
While Remus was conscious, he too was experiencing pain that was so excruciating, all he could do was cower on the floor of the forest. It pained him to be subject to the screams of terror emanating from his best friend while he could do nothing. The desperation and pain began to overcome his senses.
As Remus watched the creature, his eyes slowly began to blur. He could still hear Emily's screams and he himself, could still feel the same screams of terror ripping out from his chest and through his throat, yet he could no longer focus on any one thing. Slowly the figure before him began to blend into the dark night, leaving only a human like grin and demonic yellow eyes for Remus to follow.
The creature growled quietly as it lowered the girl that was within its grasp. Placing her on the ground with an abnormal amount of care, the werewolf turned. Giving one last glance to the boy on the ground, he snarled loudly, lunging at the child, leaving a bloodied wound on Remus's leg, before darting back where it came from.
After it had crossed the stream, it turned one last time, it's fur twisting around its head as it faced upward to the moon. The creature gave only a singular howl, that began deep within its chest and erupted in a high-pitched tone that pierced through the night. Satisfied with its job, the creature then turned, disappearing into the forest, leaving behind two horribly wounded children, and a rustling path in his wake.
Remus was whimpering. Painfully aware that he could no longer move, and no longer hear the cries of his best friend, he closed his eyes. Unable to even think clearly he drifted in and out of consciousness.
As the two children were no longer screaming, and the reason for their pain was no longer present, the distant muttering of adults now filled the air. One by one cries for the two children erupted from all different distances, as well as directions, until young Remus and Emily were found in their current unconscious state.
"Aye! They're over 'er!"
"Get the Medi's here stat they're losin' more blood then they got in their bodies!"
"Bloody hell, get Hope and Jane over er' now!"
Various voices spoke at once, while others began their work on their children, attempting to stop the bleeding long enough for them all to apparate.
Determination and sheer will, fueled the adults as they continued to work with both conventional muggle methods and magical ones alike. After a few moments when they had finally stunted the bleeding, three apparated to St. Mungo's, informing the healers and mediwizards of the situation. It took four more to safely apparate the children through the red brick wall and into the emergency room for Creature- Induced Injury's.
Hours passed before the five-year olds had truly reached a condition worth deeming stable. Emily's internal bleeding and loss of blood was so dire that it took multiple potions to produce enough blood and sew together her internal organs. Her stomach had three large lines of magical stitches, and her neck was in a brace.
Like Emily's condition, Remus's bones in both his legs had to be repaired and various other injuries of varying intensities needed to be tended too.
The children did not wake for close to a week, yet in that week, while they both lay completely broken and bed ridden, everything that their life once knew rapidly changed. The fantastical nature of St. Mungos left their wounds nearly healed by the time they were to awake. However, white and red scars littered the children's bodies, unable to ever be removed.
Before they even woke, their hearing had been increased, and various other senses had been enhanced. The two had devolved Lycanthropy and there was absolutely no way of going around this revelation.
Weaving in and out of consciousness, Emily heard whispers of voices that sparked a small sense of recognition. Words like 'still love,' 'wolf', and 'forever' stuck out to her although her mind couldn't really make sense of the context of these words.
Remus woke a full day before Emily. His condition being not as sever as hers, allowed him a full day in the company of his family. Yet, he was truly worried for how Emily would react when she realized what had happened.
Remus from even that young age had always been insightful. Even in his muddled mind, as he was laying on the ground of that tree, he knew what would come of the encounter with the devilish creature. When he awoke with an intense thirst and ferocious hunger for meat, his deductions had been true and nothing but worry for his friend plagued his mind.
His family did all they could to assure him that he was fine, but in the way that parents are, always so optimistic for their children's future, who was to really know what would become of them? And with that realization, young Remus wept all that night after his parents had gone home and he had been left alone, with not even his best friend to comfort him.
The next day Emily opened her eyes to the artificial light of her hospital quarters, and the booming thunder that was outside her room. On this day of September 8st 1965, a storm was raging on, the gloomy mood transferring from outside to the patients within, yet the world kept spinning.
The day previous and the ones to follow, were riddled tests and observational studies. The children were prodded and poked, and just looked at to the point that they no longer felt as if was feasible to be prodded and poked and looked at in a place that they haven't already been prodded and poked and looked at!
With their pain came aggravation and confusion. And with their confusion came many nights of realizations. Realizations, that as each night passed, the cycle continued and they were brought one-night closer to the next full moon.
Unbeknownst to the children, their parents were being educated with the best information of the time regarding werewolves on the full moon. That information being: how to create a room so heavily warded that a werewolf could not break out of it's confinements.
There were no informational classes on how to make cures, because there were no cures to Lycanthropy. There was no how-to's on how to numb the pain for the transformations because nobody educated enough cared to make one. There were absolutely no informational guides on how to feed and care for young, growing werewolf pups. There was only information on how dangerous their children had become and how to lock them up and hide the key for that one night a month.
Lyall and Hope Lupin were completely lost, as they stood next to their closest friends, Michael and Jane Fiddo. All of which had come to the silent agreement that there had to be more to this whole caring for a werewolf thing. Their children still had lives to live, why should they have to give it up because of their illness?
As the day of their first transformation approached the two children were confronted with a healer who had gathered them in a room littered with rainbows and unicorn decorum. The room was all too upbeat for the conversation that was to follow.
"Now, children, you're both very smart for your age, and I bet you've been wondering why we have kept you here, at the hospital for so long?-" Before the healer could continue talking to the two, she was abruptly cut off.
"To monitor our first full moon." Emily and Remus both stated without a hint of sarcasm. Only a hallow factual tone, to interrupt through the woman's statement.
She merely gave them a tight smile, before continuing.
"As I said, smart children. Yes, that is why we have kept you here for so long. It's standard procedure, we have already talked to your parents, and they have agreed to reveal certain information to you. Some information that might scare you. Are you alright if I continue?" The healer paused, awaiting an answer. The two nodded curtly in unison.
Quickly the healer launched into her long explanation as to what will happen during their full moon. Completely immersed in their own nightmares of what the full moon would consist of, the two children ignored the women. Nodding and giving sounds of acknowledgement when expected but no more attention past that. It wasn't until a certain phrase half way through the women's long lecture, caught Emily's attention.
"Wait, what?" Giving the women a disbelieving look, Emily's mouth was slightly open in the shape of an 'O'.
"Well, seeing as this is your first time turning into... A creature, as ordered by the ministry, and as a normal St. Mungos procedure, you will be detained, in our perfectly safe and indestructible rooms for your first transformation. You will be separated and will be wearing a special neck brace in order to monitor your health statistics as well as control you if you manage to escape." After that, the healer didn't have such a nice demeanor to her, at least in Emily's mind. When she turned to examine her parent's reactions, they were watching the healer with a serious face, hanging nearly on the edge of their seats as the woman spoke.
Emily was floored by what here parents and the hospital were planning to put her through. Although a heavily warded room would be a tremendous help, shock collars and one-sided glass to be observed the whole time? Even to a child that just sounded wrong.
As days passed and the eve of the full moon had finally approached the children found themselves deep within the lowest quarters of St. Mungos. Squirreled away in two separate waiting rooms.
goo
Emily was sick of the how sterile everything was. She was tired of potions and disinfectants and yet as her mind wandered to how uncomfortable she felt in this waiting room, she reverted to methods that she used when she was bored. Her eyes drifted lazily from item to item.
In the dimly lit white room, there was one black and grey chair, and that was the one that she sat in. Additionally, there was one small table, a water goblet to drink from and various witch weekly magazines laying in the corner chair. There were only two doors in this room. The one she came in from, and the one she would go into.
Fiddling with her hospital gown, Emily sighed. Although she could feel anxiety and fear bubbling up from her chest, she continued to focus on her breathing, fixating on the ticking of the magical clock above the first door. Tick tock. Tick tock.
Distracting her mind once again, she began to replay her goodwinbyes to her family that had occurred within the last hour. It was strange. Emily knew that this transformation would be painful yet she wasn't quite sure why her family was so distraught on when they had said good bye. Her mother clung to her father, as they together hugged Emily. Her younger sister Delilah, only three years old, ran around the three laughing and yelling hysterically until Emily's mother had solemnly quieted the child.
The situation was abnormal and Emily had no clue as to why. Tick tock.
Swinging her legs back and forth, Emily remained in her seat. Again, she began to think of her friend who she assumed was in a similar room parallel to hers. When they had said their good byes, they were only faced towards opposite doors, while their families were directed around the hall. Tick tock. Tick tock.
Emily had lost all interest in her surroundings and was just about ready to drift off into a light sleep before the ticking of the clock's frequency had changed and the hour had switched as well.
Like the clockwork itself, a small dinging noise sounded and a very stiff and automated voice spoke.
"The hour is 7pm. In front of you, you will find a door with the number 2 labeled above it. When prompted, enter the room. You will remove your clothing, leaving it on the shelf by the door, fasten the collar from original shelf onto your neck, and remain in the center of the room, on the labeled X until the beginning of your transformation. May Merlin be with you."
This speech ended with the same short dinging pitch that had initiated it.
Working in short successions, the door before Emily opened. Just like instructed she entered, removing her robe and fastening her collar, Emily now stood in the center of the room.
Although Emily was thoroughly on the bottom floor of the large hospital, above her was a transparent square glass window. She could see that the sun was quickly setting. The sky was bursting with color, appearing to be completely on fire, with how vibrantly orange it was. How very unfitting, for the dark night that was to come.
With absolutely nothing in the room to keep her mind from the horrifying thoughts of what was to happen, Emily allowed herself to cry. Standing on that faded red 'X' her lower lip began to tremble, and tears began to well in her eyes as she glanced fearfully up at the sky above her. Her fists were clenched at her waste. She was cold, with absolutely no clothing on, and the information that one of the walls she was being observed from, she felt as vulnerable as she had ever felt.
Minuets passed, and just as Emily began to fantasize that this wasn't really happening, she let out an ear-piercing scream. One that lasted for so long, she was almost out of air in her lungs, before she gasped for breath and continued in her endeavors. Her spine was tingling, it felt as if her jaw was being ripped downward, and her noes outward, while every other part of her body simultaneously felt as if it was being stretched and pulled.
And then her bones began to break. Each crack, adding to a new intensity to her screams. It wasn't until after many minuets of excruciating pain did her screams turn to howls, and her howls turn to quiet whimpers.
When her body was fully transformed, Emily the wolf lay on all fours on the ground. Her legs folded below her as she curled into a ball, and began to lick the blood from her wounds. Her fur was a dark brown, just like her human hair.
The night was a blur. Even now as a creature Emily was quiet, only occasionally howling to the moon or scratching at the wall in boredom.
The hours passed slowly, but as it always does, dawn came early. At the first signs of the setting moon Emily's bones again began to crack and a contracting feeling of tightness encompassed her body. She could only howl with all her might, until her animalistic noises turned to agonizing screams.
And from there she promptly lost consciousness, again subject to whatever the healers saw fit.
It took yet another 8 days before the two children could depart from the hospital. Procedures of the time were followed and before the two could be released, official statements of their illness had been released to the Dangerous Creatures in Communities Database (DCCD). They were no longer just the poor children who had been viciously attacked. They were monsters now. The backlash of the community on their homecoming was traumatizing. Although the Fiddo family was high in statues, the hatred towards them was still evident. Their homes had to be heavily warded and a new cellar in each house had to be created for their monthly activates. Despite the tremendous caution, their families had cut most ties from the community. It was heartbreaking to say the least.
Ultimately deciding not to move from their home town, it took many years before the drama and constant bullying subdued. Both Emily and Remus were enrolled to a muggle primary school, under the pretense that they were sickly children, born with multiple autoimmune diseases. Although the two had shown signs from an early age that they had magical blood in them, reserved traits that they developed allowed them to easily control their magical urges in muggle school.
Their life was bland, yet they both still tried their hardest to survive through their adolescent years.
The word's 'illness' and 'sick' do not often come with positive associations. The idea that the two children were different stuck out to even the muggle children. The constant look of illness and odd attendance patterns was not welcomed among their primary classmates. With only each other as true confidants, they made some acquaintances in their childhood, but not many. Lonely as they were, their lives continued.
Cycle after cycle they children grew older and wiser. Their transformations for lack of better words became familiar and their daily routines became bearable. With school studies and a mutual love for reading, the children could occupy themselves easily each afternoon, quietly sitting in each other's company, but with no necessary need to converse.
Their curse effected every part of their lives and would do so until the very end.
A/N This is the first installment of a piece that I've already attempted to write three times. Updating will be irregular and the only promises I have for this is that I will stay cannon.
Original posting of this was formatted oddly. Updated version on now.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowlings characters or other Harry Potter affiliations and any further content is under this presumption as well.