Lupin's Mark (Wolfstar)

a special sign

The wizarding world is a vast and strange place (at least to muggles eyes) with infinite possibilities. But there are few things that are even strange to the wizarding community, such as soulmate marks, or 'tattoos'. These marks were so rare and unknown people born with them were generally seen as 'other'. Some thought it was a special sign, and the person would have extraordinary abilities. Others thought it meant something more sinister.

Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, wizards with families who thought the complete opposite. Both boys were born with the same mark, a simple black paw. Sirius' on his upper thigh, and Remus' on his lower back. Remus' family celebrated it and told their son it meant that he was special. He was happy like that at first, until he was bit. Then he was just too...different. He never talked about his lycanthropy or his mark from then on, never telling another soul about either. It was like that with Sirius from the start. His parents panicked when they saw it and attempted multiple times to remove it magically, but Sirius would just scream and cry and no change would be made. They always told him to cover himself and never tell anybody what he was born with. They told him it was bad and not to be discussed. He accepted it as truth, and only broke the rule once- telling James Potter.

They both kept it a secret at Hogwarts, until second year when James, Sirius, and Peter figured out that Remus was a werewolf. They'd all grown close and knew how painful it was for Remus and wanted to help him. None knew what to do and felt helpless, especially Sirius.

On a particularly bad moon in third year, Sirius broke school rules and left the castle at five in the morning to find Remus. He'd been under stress lately and the boys had heard howling during the night. He found Remus inside the Shrieking Shack passed out, bleeding and naked. Once he ran up to him, he could see the paw on his back, identical to his. He froze for a second, utterly shell shocked, then covered him with his jumper and carried him inside to Madam Pomfrey. She took him into her care and didn't ask questions. His luck ran out when he ran into Professor McGonagall on the way back to the common room, telling off his friends.

"Mr. Black!" She gasped. "Where have you been! Three students out of bed in one night!"

"Mate, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" James snickered.

"Professor, I can explain-"

"Oh, you will." She interrupted. "And you're all getting a detention."

He didn't tell James and Peter, or even Remus for that matter. It scared him. He was thirteen, and soulmates with one of his best friends who already had enough drama.

"Sirius, are you mad at me?" Remus had asked him, "You've been acting kind of distant lately. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything. Mum and dad have just been stressing me out lately." He lied.

Remus knew better than to press for more details. It wasn't a secret that the Blacks weren't the easiest to be around. He dropped it.

It wasn't until a year later when everything reached the boiling point.