Sanctuary

Chapter 2

March 13th, 1971

As always when he woke from a transformation, Remus was lying on his stomach. He assumed that the wolf curled up to sleep when the moon set and counted it as a blessing that he didn't have to experience the pain of morphing back into himself every time. One excruciating change every month was awful enough, two would be unbearable.

Something was different this morning, though. Usually, he woke up to the nauseating stench of blood and agonising pain in various body parts. Today, all he could smell was damp earth and pine trees, and apart from a general ache in his bones and a deep sense of fatigue, he only felt a gentle breeze caressing his naked body. His heart pounded as the realisation hit him. The wolf had escaped.

Grunting with the effort, he rolled over and opened his eyes to the sight of the bright blue sky filtered through the tree canopy. The sun's rays were warm on his skin. Thank Merlin they were in the middle of a heatwave or he'd be freezing.

When he looked around, he recognised his surroundings to an extent. He knew these woods, had spent many long hours in them over the previous few years, but he didn't know where he was within them. One part looked very similar to another, and he had no idea which direction the house lay. His parents would find him, wouldn't they? But no, the woodland was huge, and he wasn't sure if they were even in a fit state to look for him. A shiver went down his spine, and he swallowed hard, pushing the thought away. It was up to him to figure out how to get home.

He listened hard, hoping to hear the trickling sound of the stream that ran near his home. If he found that, he could follow it back, but he heard nothing but birdsong and grasshoppers. His breaths were coming short and fast, and he needed to calm down. Panicking would not help the situation. The woodland lay to the south of his home, so he needed to go north. But how could he work out which way was north? The sun! He looked up at the sky again. The sun sat very high, almost directly above him. Close to noon then, but morning or afternoon? He wasn't sure.

While he waited for the sun to move, he checked himself over—very few injuries, some scratches and bruises, but nothing worse. The wolf must enjoy being outside. Not that he could ever let it happen again. He shuddered. Gods, he hoped his parents were okay. Merlin knows how long it would take to walk back to his house, and he would need his strength if the journey was long, so he lay back down to rest. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.

When he woke for the second time, the sun had moved a little. He couldn't have been asleep for long, but it was enough to work out which direction he should walk. So, he got to his feet and set off towards home. His legs were weak and shaky under his weight, and he needed to take frequent breaks along the way to rest. The sun was hanging low in the sky by the time he glimpsed his house through the trees. He took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for gory scenes of carnage before he approached.

Remus pushed the front door open and walked inside. He'd been expecting a mess, but the state of the living room made him gasp. The wolf had torn the upholstery off the sofa and armchair, ripped the curtains down and shredded the carpet. Worst of all, the Beast had smashed the TV to pieces. Looking at it caused a tightness in his chest; his mum would kill him. If she lived to see the destruction. He hoped she was still alive to be able to kill him.

Finding no sign of his parents in the living room, he went through to the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief to see the room relatively unscathed. The wolf had knocked the dining table over and smashed the back door off its hinges, but the rest of the room seemed normal.

He checked the rest of the house. His room exhibited its usual state of post-full-moon horror, apart from the door no longer being attached to the frame. That was new. His parent's room and the bathroom were untouched. The wolf must have gone straight for the living room, straight for his parents. He inhaled deeply and found no scent of human blood—a promising sign. But if they survived, and they were unhurt, then where were they? He grabbed some clothes from his parents' room and went to the kitchen to find something to eat and wait for them to show up.