Marauders - Always - Part One

Good Boy

Words could not describe the way the transformation from man to werewolf took over Remus Lupin, the way that Lily Potter felt her heart crash in the very bottom of herself. She gasped and stared at Remus, whose head lay in her lap, as his eyes suddenly rolled back, as his mouth fell open and his breath seemed to catch... He convulsed and shuddered and spit fell from his mouth and his back suddenly arched stiff as stone, his arms out nearly straight before him, fingers splayed -- and then -- suddenly his fingers were getting shorter, his nails getting longer, turning into claws. Suddenly his nose burst forward, stretching his upper jaw so that the sound of the bone cracking made her cry out in surprise.

"Oh my stars, his bones are breaking!" Lily looked at James, wild eyed with panic.

James's face was one of rueful acceptance as he nodded.

Tears sprang to Lily's eyes. "That's normal?" she gasped.

"Every month," James whispered.

"Oh my stars." Lily covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed onto Remus's now paw with the other as his lower jaw elongated and sharp teeth sprang forth from both sides.

The fur grew across him audibly, like a rushing of a sudden heavy downpour approaching or a gust of wind through a wheat field. It wasn't loud enough to cover the sound of his knees cracking backwards into wolfish joints and his spine - one vertebrae at a time - curling into the shape of the wolf.... and suddenly, Remus heaved himself up from the floor, the convulsions stopping and the wolf stood and looked around at them, threw his head back and let out a blood-chilling howl that shook the picture frames on the walls.

James had got up at some point during all this, the rat that was Peter still balanced on his shoulder and when the wolf stood, he pulled Lily to her feet and tucked her behind him, backing a few paces up, nervous despite the wolfsbane. He looked at Snuffles, who had stood up, too, between the werewolf and James, whose hackles were up, whose bared teeth were aimed at the wolf, and for a tremulous moment, they all stood there, staring at one another, the wolf's yellow eyes glinting at them.

And then the wolf took a step forward, opened his mouth... and licked Snuffle's nose.

Lily let out a cry and pushed her way around James, nearly knocking him into the chair. He caught Peter just before the rat fell, squealing, and Lily dove to her knees and wrapped her arms around the wolf. The wolf bucked back at first in surprise - yellow eyes wide - and then relaxed slowly... 

No human had ever hugged the wolf before.

Lily pressed her face into the thick brown hair and squeezed the dog-like form tight into her arms, kissing his doggy neck repeatedly as she wept, all the nerves that watching the transformation had surged up in her releasing as she did it. "Remus, I love you, I'm so sorry you have to go through that," she sobbed. She'd felt every painful moment - she had every month, after all, but never while holding his hand - or paw, as part of the time it was. She  shook her head and hugged him for what seemed like a century until he finally drew backward and licked her cheeks, taking away the tears.

And then Snuffles was barking at her and jumping and licking her, too, and Wormtail was squealing with delight as James laughed and crouched down to let him run onto Lily's shoulder. James grinned and grabbed Marlene Mckinnon's polaroid camera from the table. He held it up and turned it toward them all. "Say AWOOO, you lot."

"AWOO!" Lily laughed, tears still glistening in her eyes.

The picture was blurry as hell but it was one of Remus's favorites for many years - especially later, after everything happened.

They'd all had such fun in the evening that by the time Remus had transformed, they were all ready for sleeping. When Lily woke in the middle of the night, it was to find herself and James buried on the couch underneath the thick, warm bodies of the dogs, Peter transformed back into a boy and flopped over the arms of the nearest chair. Snuffles lay sprawled across James, head on the back of the wolf, who lay squashed between Lily and the back of the couch.