Only The Good Die Young

The Visit

There was a breeze flowing through the opened window; a ray of moonlight illuminating the floor full of paperwork. The television was buzzing with static. The boy sitting on the couch was barely eleven, having had a birthday the previous month.

"Remus, baby, let's get you into bed," a young woman said from the other side of the room. Remus stood up slowly, dropped his paper airplane onto the ground, and followed his mother to his dark room. He climbed up, let his mother tuck him in, then whispered, "I want to go, Mummy." His voice cracked with sadness.

His mother's eyes went distant and she rubbed his hair. "Oh, baby, I know. And I wish you could go, too." She paused, then her voice grew harder, more stern. "But you can't. You know you can't." She kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, Sweetcheeks. Sweet dreams." She shut off the light and left Remus in his own thoughts.

Hogwarts was where he wanted to go, with all the other eleven-year-olds like him. He wanted to learn magic with his classmates and eat in the Great Hall with the rest of his house, and even explore the castle. He wanted to do it all. He had dreamed of it ever since his Dad had told him he was a wizard in the making. His Dad used to tell him every night how Remus was going to be the brightest kid at Hogwarts.

But he never said that anymore, ever since Remus became a werewolf.

A full moon when he was five, almost six, a werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, snuck into his room and attacked the unknowing Remus. If it weren't for his father, Remus would have been fatally injured. Remus never forgot how brave his father was for standing up to a werewolf. Every full moon since then, Remus had been locked up in the basement to be tortured by the werewolf inside of him.

It was because of his condition that Remus had no friends, that family rarely ever came over to their house, and that he had never had a birthday party since he turned five. He didn't know what it was like to live outside the four walls of his family's small house, and he was desperate to escape it. He was desperate to go to Hogwarts.

Remus rolled over onto his side and looked out the window to the bright moon and sighed. He knew he wasn't going to go, no matter how hard he dreamed.

Remus was barely asleep when a hard knocking came from the front door. Remus sat up and listened. He could hear his parent's muffled talking, then after a minute, the click of a lock turning.

It was silent after that. Remus silently slipped out of bed and tip-toed to his door, opening it a crack.

"I have come to talk to your little boy," said a slow, calm voice; a man's voice.

"With Remus? What do you want with Remus?" his father said loudly, obviously forgetting that Remus was supposed to be asleep.

"Lyall," the man said. "I know about Remus's condition."

There was a long pause, and Remus could picture his parents glancing at each other. Remus grabbed onto the wall tightly. Had this man come to take him away? Remus tried to control his breathing, but he found it quite difficult as his heart was racing and his fingers were shaking.

"Remus is innocent," his mother whispered. "You can't do anything to him! I won't let you! He's my boy!"

"Hope," said the man. Remus walked out of his room and peered around the corner to see his parents standing short next to a tall man. The man had a long, white beard and he wore glasses. Remus did not recognize him, but there was nothing intimidating about him. Yet Remus was still afraid of what he may do to him. He listened to their conversation carefully.

"Hope, I have not come to take your boy, I have come to talk; to make an offer."

"Well─" his mother said, glancing at her husband. "Well, even if you just wanted to talk, I'm afraid that Remus is asleep and can't listen to what you have to say." Her hand closed around the door handle and she attempted to close it. But the man held it open and glanced up to see Remus huddled there on the corner. His expression made Remus think that he had known Remus was listening to their conversation all along. Remus backed up into the shadows.