The Girl Who Cried Wolf || Remus Lupin

PROLOGUE

'What an amazing way to spend Summer,' Astrid sighed as she held up her flute of champagne.

'Cheers to that,' Sirius replied sarcastically, clinking his glass off of hers before they both tilted their heads back and downed the whole thing, thanking Merlin for the only thing making this night bareable.

The two friends were hunched over a table, begging to be anywhere else ; but here they were, at a party for the purest of blood, watching their parents complain about those 'filthy mud-bloods.'

'I'm lucky they even let me out of the house,' Astrid smiled sadly at Sirius' comment, squeezing his hand which lay on the table in a fist. Luckily for Astrid, her parents were slightly more liberal at home and weren't as fully neglectful or abusive as Sirius' parents were - it hurt to see the only person understanding her situation hurt.

'For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here.'

'You seem to be the only one, I'll miss you,' Sirius said as he brought the much smaller girl into his chest. In return, she squeezed his toned body, digging her fists into his back slightly.

Sirius flinched.

Astrid looked up into his face, his long hair brushing her cheek, 'you okay?' He gulped harshly and smiled, 'yeah, just caught sight of Bellatrix and Rodolphous snogging.'

Astrid giggled and looked behind her. Sure enough, there was Bellatrix and Rodolphous snogging as Bellatrix slightly pushed him into the wall. 'Jesus, they really need to get a room.' Her face turned back to Sirius, who was still hanging tightly to her hand. 'Anyways, dear brother, I'll miss you too.'

Sirius' slight smile dropped, quickly letting go of Astrid's hand as a steady grip was placed upon her shoulder. 'It's time to go, sweetheart,' her father said gruffly and she quickly got up, giving a small wave to Sirius.

'Bye, sis!' He shouted at her retreating form, just to spite Astrid's father, who knew fully well of his rebelliousness against his parents.

He complained about it to Astrid on several occasions.

The slamming of a car door was the sound of the night ending badly.

'Astrid Fawley! Get back here right now!' Her father shouted after her as she quickly ran into the house, a brief shout of 'shut up! I'm going for a run!' coming from behind the closed front door.

By the time her parents made it into the house Astrid had already ripped off the tulle dress she had been forced into for the night and donned her usual running gear. She slipped past her stern faced father and worrisome mother and slammed the door to her home.

This seemed to be the routine the Fawley family had taken up when it came to these events over the past year. The family would go to the pureblood party, Astrid would immediately run off to Sirius while her parents engaged in some stupid conversation with the prejudiced idiots they all seemed to be related to. When the party was over, the family would hop back in the car and an argument would break out over the close friendship of Astrid and Sirius, her mother blindly agreeing with her father.

'Your mother will do what I say,' was the usual line.

It would always end with a car door slamming and a pissed off Astrid going for a run.

Tonight was worse than usual though, thoughts of Sirius flinching back away from her swirled around her head and she became embroiled in a rage. The thought of what he had to go through at home killed her inside.

Walburga and Orion didn't deserve children.

Even her parents had never raised their hand to her, despite being nearly as prejudiced as the Black parents were.

Astrid's trainer clad feet were slapping harder and harder against the wet pavement, these thoughts running through her head, as she herself ran towards the forest in the little seaside village the Fawley's lived in. It was late, the drive home taking two hours from London, and the full moon seemed to be at its peak.

It was when the sound of her footsteps hollowed out, hitting the forest floor that she realised what night it was and realised the reason for her mother's worried expression. Astrid could only hurl insults at herself in her head as she slowed to a stop, the cold settling in on her small body.

Since her childhood she had been told tales of werewolves and now she was worried she would actually meet one. Fear seemed to creep up on her as the trees seemed to block out the moonlight and a sound of rustling leaves reached her ears.

Surely it's just the wind.

Astrid turned on her heel and began to slowly tip toe out of the forest, it wouldn't be effective against the hypersensitive hearing of a werewolf but it reassured her slightly. Something in her mind told her something was following her in the darkness but she blamed it on paranoia.

Use some of the Gryffindor bravery you're meant to have...

When she did hear a snarl from behind her and turned to see what she had feared all along behind her, a werewolf,she couldn't even scream or move, let alone breathe as she became a statue.

After a moment of sheer terror, Astrid began to run again, not even making it out of the forest before she fell face first into the roots of trees. A heavy weight was on her back and the only thing she felt before seeing black was a pulsing pain ripping into her shoulder.

She woke up about 2 hours later, the sunlight from dawn breaking through the trees and almost blinding Astrid who quickly moved her hand over her face, a dull ache all over her body. Memories of the night before flashed in her brain and suddenly she was jumping up, nearly keeling over again at the pain that shot through her body.

Getting home before her parents woke up and realised what happened was her main priority as she tried to quickly waddle home.

Later on that day, Astrid slipped out of the shower, a dressing gown wrapped around her injured body as she came to face the still worried features of her mother.

She reached out and gingerly touched the cut that was beginning to bruise on Astrid's pale face, 'oh sweetie, what happened?'

'I fell on some roots last night, it was pretty dark,' Astrid replied, a reassuring smile gracing her face.

Things had gone to shit quickly.