𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 ❧ remus lupin

I. Juliet's Complicated History

"Don't feel sad over someone who gave up on you, feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone who would have never given up on them."

Juliet's POV

I never thought that my life would've changed for the better after my own mother abandoned me. She sent me packing at the wee age of five, off to my auntie and uncle's house to live. At that age, I was too young to understand my mother's reasoning for sending me away from my original residence, but now that I'm old enough to understand, I get why she had to do what she did.

I'm a Greyback. I'm a werewolf in a family of werewolves. And due to my father Alecto and older brother Fenrir's, countless attacks and vicious bloodlust, our family racked up an unforgettable reputation that led my father to his death, and my mother to her paranoia. She thought that it would be best for me to live in a place where being a Greyback would be the least of my worries.

My mother, born Isola Cresswell, was raised in a proper neighborhood in a suburb of London. Isola was the second born child in the Cresswell family; she had an older sister named Helena who looked out for her. The Cresswell family were not wizards, but however, were overjoyed when Helena and Isola received their Hogwarts letters. Both Isola and Helena were young, beautiful Hufflepuffs, and caught the eyes of many young men in their class. In my mother's seventh year at Hogwarts, a tall and handsome Slytherin by the name of Alecto Greyback became interested in the beautiful Hufflepuff girl.

Isola and Alecto grew extremely close over the next couple of years, but Isola's parents didn't approve of him. They believed that his personality was beastly and that he didn't represent qualities of a true man. Even Helena sided with her parents on this one, disappointed in Isola for falling for a man of this sort. Their belief system led to many fights between Isola and her family, causing her to run away from home to be with Alecto. They eloped and at the time, were happily Mr. and Mrs. Alecto Greyback.

That was, until Alecto entrusted Isola with his dark side, meaning that he came clean about his alter-ego as a werewolf.

Isola was frightened and immediately began to regret even running away with Alecto. But Isola was clear with her intentions to leave Alecto, so he attacked her before she got the chance, transmitting his lycanthropy onto her. He then forced himself upon her, resulting in her getting pregnant with my brother, Fenrir.

She knew now that with a baby and the lycanthropy, that she couldn't possibly leave Alecto. So, taking the little money that they had with them, Isola and Alecto began to dwell in an abandoned house, far away from civilization.

Gone for weeks at a time, Alecto left my weak mother all alone to raise Fenrir, who quickly became a rambunctious little boy. Of course, the lycanthropy was passed down to him, and it was extremely difficult to keep Fenrir under control without access to any Wolfsbane Potion.

Life began to become a drag for my mother, and for my father as well. Fenrir was a rebellious boy and was sent off to Durmstrang Institute when he was 11, giving my mother a bit free time. But Alecto was rarely home. He spent the little money that they had on drinking and gambling.

However, my mother's life story with Alecto was far from over. One night, after he had spent hours at a bar, Alecto can home drunk and forced himself upon my weak mother once again. And nine months later, I was born. And only weeks after my birth, my pathetic father died of a rare rabid infection, therefore Isola raised me all by herself. I never did get to know my father well, but from what I heard about him, he wasn't a very good man.

Meanwhile, Fenrir had been long gone, taking from his father and causing havoc everywhere he turned. It was just me and my mother for five whole years.

Not knowing I was leaving until the day it happened was upsetting to my five-year-old self. I remember it like it was yesterday: I had just woken up due to the cold breeze folding into my room. Wearing clothes that practically ragged, I walked downstairs, hoping for breakfast. But before I had a chance to eat anything, my mother blindsided me and told me to fit everything that I wanted into my small black duffle bag, and that my auntie and uncle, whom I had never met before, would be here to pick me up in less than an hour.

Our family didn't have much, so it's not like I had very much to pack. We lived in a previously abandoned house in a ghost town in a country whose name I was too young to know. My mother didn't work, and my brother almost always out of the house. At least it was easy to be a werewolf in the ghost town since no one else was around. But that meant that we had hardly any utilities. No electricity, no water, and hardly any food. The only thing that our family possessed that had value was my mother's wand, which was practically useless since my mother's magical abilities over the years had drained to little.

Now that I'm old enough to understand my mother's thought process when sending me away, I realize that she was doing it to protect me. She didn't want her youngest child, an innocent young werewolf, to be exposed to the Greyback family's reputation and unfortunately unsafe lifestyle.

On the morning that I was sent away from my own home, I could hear the sound of a running car parked outside our sad excuse for a home. With a small duffel bag in my hand, my mother led me to the squeaky front door, where she knelt down to my height. Through our dirty and broken windows by the door, I saw a nice looking lady roll down the window and give a friendly wave. But my mother, who had tilted my head in her direction, still needed to say some final words before handing me off to people I've never met before.

"Juliet, I know that what I'm doing may seem selfish and unfair, but I want you to know that I am doing it out of pure love. The last thing I want is for your life to be the same or worse than how mine turned out. I made a horrible, horrible mistake by marrying your father, and the only good thing our marriage brought was the birth of you and your brother Fenrir. Therefore, I can't stand your living here any longer, in this horrible environment. You're going to be staying with your auntie and uncle for a while. They've got a nice home in a nice neighborhood where you have access to the Wolfsbane potion, and can peacefully be a werewolf. I just want you to be safe, my dearest Juliet," my mother said while wiping tears from her face. She continued, "And remember darling, no one other than your auntie and uncle can know that you're a Greyback." I remember my five-year-old self looking back at my mother with big brown eyes. "Yes mummy, I promise I won't tell a soul."

Word Count: 1255