The Marauders: Year 1

Questioned

"Please be okay," Hope had thought before turning the key in its lock. She had already seen this sight dozens of times, but was still terrified every single time. She was expecting to see her son unconscious in that cellar, covered with scratches and bruises around his wrists where she had chained him last night. What she didn't expect to find was her unconscious son laying on the stairs.

"LYALL !," she shrieked. Her husband, who was usually gathering various potions to heal his son at this time, dropped everything and sprinted towards her. He found her dragging Remus out of the cellar.

"He... he... got... escaped... broken.." she tried.

"Hope, what happened, I can't understand what you are saying," her husband had responded, desperate to find out the reason behind her scream. Hope could not properly get the words out and instead just waved a shaky finger towards the cellar.

"Lumos!" Lyall had muttered and headed downstairs. He shined his wand around for a few seconds before realizing what his wife meant by "escaped." The shackles that were supposed to keep Remus chained to the wall were completely broken off. The end of the chains that were connected to the cement were now on the ground — with a chunk of the wall in it. His son, Remus, had managed to break out of his shackles. He stood in the cellar for a minute before realizing that he could deal with this later. He walked back up the stairs and out into their yard.

Hope was not strong enough to lift Remus, who had grown unexpectedly quickly, on her own, so Lyall had picked up his son, now clothed, and brought him inside the house. Placing him gently on the bed, he had started on his injuries immediately.

After the first full moon, both Lyall and Hope were so horrified at the condition of their son that they had taken straight to St. Mungos. The staff had told them the same thing: the scratches that Remus would have inflicted on himself would not disappear easily.

By the second full moon, Lyall had realized that taking him to the magical hospital was no use. After all, the chains had done an effective job keeping the little werewolf from being able to scratch himself.

But that was when Remus was only five years old. Just as he grew taller and bigger through age, so did the werewolf. The first two years were fine, the werewolf was not craving much. After all, he barely understood what was happening at the time. But the werewolf became more aware and his senses had heightened.

He needed to bite on something. He needed to bite on a human. And so, the werewolf had attempted to escape. Lyall did his best to place strong charms on the chains to prevent them breaking, but the werewolf was stronger. He did not like to be chained up and he could sense humans right above him. He craved to be free. And finally it had happened. The werewolf was able to break his chains off the walls.

Remus slowly opened his eyes. Still dizzy from whatever may have happened last night, he could not really tell what was going on. At the very least, he could see a woman, his mother to his left, and a man, his father, to his right.

"Dad... Mum..." he groaned. Both had leaned closer over the ten-year old boy.

"Remus, my dear, can you hear me?" his mother had questioned with concern. Remus could only manage a small nod before falling back asleep. After all, he did not sleep at all the previous night.

When Remus had opened his eyes for the second time, he could see the sun shining violently through the pale curtains.

"Probably in the afternoon," he thought. He sat up and quickly grasped the side of his torso. Something there had hurt terribly. While his body had told him to not get out of his bed, his stomach said differently. He hadn't eaten since the very early supper last night. One way or another, he managed to get to his door and to the kitchen.