Good Old Days

The First Moon

He heard a noise. It was a strange noise, the source of it unknown to the little boy. His parents had just tucked him into bed, and he guessed they were now in the living room. He wondered if they had heard the noise too, or whether it was just his young mind playing tricks on him.

Remus Lupin waited for the noise to come again. He looked about his dark, still bedroom, getting wary something could be watching him, like a monster. No. Monsters weren't something Remus worried about, they only existed in the stories his father would read him. That's what he had been told. He was four years old, obviously he was going to believe him.

But what if his he was wrong? What if there was a monster in his room, making scary noises in order to scare him? Remus's breathing quickened, telling himself to ask someone to check for monsters. No. He was four, he didn't believe in monsters. He was just hearing things, that's what his father would tell him. Remus closed his eyes, waiting to fall asleep.

"HOWL"
There it was again, louder this time, more frightening than the first one. Remus definitely didn't imagine that, it had echoed, his parents must've heard it. He sat up in his bed. He felt hot with worry, now shaking rapidly, no clue what to do. He willed for him to hear someone come in, his mother to give him a cold water, to check for the source of the noise. He needed comfort. But no one was coming to give it to him.
HOWL

Again. Remus had tears falling down his face now, his forehead dripping with sweat, his onesie sticking to him uncomfortably. He made fists with his hands to ease the shaking, to wait for his mother to walk in. But where she was he did not know.

"Lyall, he's here. You know it's him."

It was his mother's voice. It had come from the living room meaning she was safe, but Remus soon realised his father must've not been in her with her, it sounded like she was calling to him, or even telling him off.

"Block the door. Don't let him come in Hope." The sound of his father's voice came from the study.

"You really think that's going to stop a werewolf? You're a bastard Lyall."

Remus heard her footsteps come towards his room, but he was paralysed with shock. A werewolf? Outside? Surely not, they didn't exist? Remus never believed his parents to be liars, but how would a werewolf be outside his house? Was it going to hurt him?

"Remus!" Hope called to her son with fright, scared not only for her but for Remus, she did not want him to be hurt.

Remus remembered the books his father read to him about werewolves, the ones he wrote himself. He made up this funny world where magic was real, where beasts like werewolves were real too, all living in secret, their magic undisturbed. Remus didn't believe in magic, his father said it wasn't real, he just made it up those stories. But the stories he would tell about werewolves were always the most confusing for Remus, the most realistic and frightening. It was always focused on this one werewolf called 'Fenrir Greyback'. Remus had always thought it was a funny name, but he was always told off for laughing. Lyall took his stories very seriously, they were real to him. But they weren't allowed to be real for Remus.

Remus looked up at his door, the handle being slowly turned, sobbing was coming from the other side of the door, causing Remus even more confusion. Were werewolves real? Was this all a dream? He frantically closed his eyes, touched around his face to wake him up from the nightmare. It was no use. His eyes were blurry when he looked up at his trembling mother.

"I-I'm scared," Remus trembled, slowly trying to rise from his bed, his shaking making him weak. He was boiling now.

"Stay there Remus,please, daddy will hold him off, it's scary but please, please trust mummy okay."