𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ;𝐑.𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

Prolouge

The full moon shone brightly in the sky. Rose Lupin sat in the living room of their small cottage, playing with her year old daughter, Rachelle, but her mind was plagued with worries about her husband.

"Daddy!" Giggled Rachelle at the break of dawn as she stretched her short arms towards the window. Rose jolted up from her spot on the floor and rushed to open the door.

"Moony! Are you alright? Do you need anything?" Rose threw question after question at the man as she enveloped him in a tight hug, pushing aside the fact that he was sopping wet and bleeding from the numerous cuts that was littered all over his body.

Gently guiding him towards the sofa she pulled out her wand and began treating the deep cuts and scratches. Rachelle stumbled over and tried but failed to crawl onto the sofa with her father. She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest angrily.

A small smile played on the werewolf's lips and he picked up his daughter and sat her down on the sofa next to him. The child curled up next to Remus and fell asleep almost immediately.

•••

A week after the full moon came the day that the Lupins dreaded, but they did not know it yet.

3rd August 1981

"Run! Moony, get Rachelle to safety. Get her far far far away from here!" Came urgent voice of Rose. Remus held Rachelle close to him as he held his wand in his hand.

A bang and crash was heard.

Rachelle looked fearfully at her father but made no sound. The girl, young as she was, seemed to understand that this situation was not normal and remained silent.

"Hello, Lupin." Snarled the voice of Antonin Dolohov.

"I call dibs on her delicious looking neck. Mmm... such soft skin." Sneered Fenrir Greyback. Remus' jaw clenched and his grip on his daughter tightened. It was all he could do to stop himself from bursting out and attacking the Death Eaters right there on the spot.

But he was no use to his family dead.

"Tell me all you know about the Order. Or we'll track down your family and slowly torture them." Dolohov demanded. Remus tapped his wand above Rachelle's head, then his own. Within a second both had disappeared from sight. A disillusionment charm.

"Crucio!"

A scream of pain reverberated throughout the house.

"Crucio! Talk, or else we will find your family."

"NEVER." Another scream rang through the air, and a nearby murder of crows flew out of the trees, seeking a quieter area to stay.

Rachelle buried her face into her fathers chest, clutching his jumper tightly with a small fist.

And so the interrogation began.

With each new scream Rachelle's death grip on the jumper became tighter.

With each cry of agony Remus became paler and paler.

Until he couldn't take it any longer. He had no plan, but hearing the love of his life was torture enough.

He placed Rachelle in a closet nearby and motioned for her to be quiet. Rachelle nodded, a single year falling from her eye. Remus replaced the charm and walked towards the source of the screams.

"Get away from my wife." He commanded as a jet of red light shot from his wand towards Dolohov. Greyback leapt up and pounced at Remus, but not before another stunning spell hit him. He too fell to the floor, stunned.
He chided himself for not jumping to action sooner. If it was that easy, what was the point of hiding in the closet?

"Ferula." Ropes wrapped around the death eater, name of Dolohov. Greyback had hit the floor rather harshly, and if the stunning spell wore off, the werewolf would still be unconscious for a while. His attention turned to Rose, who was on the floor, muttering wildly as she looked around the room with her eyes wide.

"Vixxy... Vixxy? Rosie? Rose?" Remus called as he lifted her head into his arms. A cry interrupted him. Rachelle.

Gently setting his wife down, Remus rushed back to the closet. The disillusionment charm had worn off surprisingly fast and Rachelle sat upon mounds of clothes, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Daddy?" whispered the little girl.

"It's alright, daddy's here... I'm here sweetie." Remus whispered, cradling the child in his arms while he walked back towards his wife.

"You are surrounded. Come out with your hands above your head and your wand visible!" Yelled a voice from outside.

Remus opened the front door and found that aurors had surrounded their house. "Mad-eye?" Remus breathed when he saw the eye spinning around in his socket.

"What is Remus Lupins boggart!" Mad eye demanded.
"A full moon."
"Had to check. What the hell happened here?"
"Dolohov and Greyback. I stunned them." Remus opened the door wider and the aurors entered cautiously.

Dolohov and Greyback were apprehended and taken for a trail while Rose was sent to St Mungos by the aurors.

•••

"How is she?"
"I'm sorry. She was tortured to insanity. We can't do much more other then let her stay here."

"Mama? Where mama?" Rachelle babbled. The girl might have been smart enough to stay silent during the whole ordeal, but she was certainly too young to understand the consequences of the Death Eaters actions.

Remus sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes. He had to be strong. For Rose. For Rachelle.

"Mama's going to stay here with the nice healers. Let's get you home."

And the girl could do nothing but nod, for she knew nothing of how her family was falling apart at the seams.

rewritten: 11 august 2021