Another path for Remus lupin

March 3rd

Earlier that day, 

Hope Lupin was all alone in her house. Her husband had gone to work. Hope played with her Chesnut brown hair. She wasn't thinking of much, but one thing was on her mind. It seemed weird to Hope that this day, six years ago, right at this very time, she was happy, free from worry, and unaware what would happen to her. It actually amazed Hope more than it weirded her out. What would she do if she knew? Well, for starters, she would have stayed in the room. Why did she even leave his bedroom? If she didn't, maybe Remus would still be here.

She remembered that day six years ago, she was sitting in a chair in Remus's bedroom and watching him play with his toys. She then left, thinking that Remus would be fine, after all, there was nothing that would harm her son. She left the room and went over to Lyall in the living room, she was planning to stay there for a bit and then go back to watch over Remus. By the time she got back, she didn't see her son. She only saw, a blue rabbit lying on the carpet and the window wide open. It felt like her world froze, for a full minute, she didn't know what to think, feel or do. Hope finally snapped back to reality and she ran towards the window,

"REMUS!" Hope shouted, hoping a response would come. The bright full moon was hanging in the air. Hope stood there for a while, her hands were gripping the windowsill. She heard someone running and the door opened,

"What's wrong?" Lyall asked and he stood next to Hope. His voice was quick and worried. 

"It's Remus. H-He's missing," Hope said softly, but, you could still make out the panic in her voice. 

"Now, now, I'm sure he's not missing," Lyall said reassuringly, but, you could see that he was sounding a little bit doubtful. Hope could feel tears in her eyes, but she blinked them back. And, she shouldn't jump to conclusions.

So, Hope and Lyall searched the house, calling out Remus's name. They looked in every corner. Panic and doubt were slowly starting to rise in Hope. Her heart was bursting to break out of her chest. They searched the house once, they didn't see Remus. They searched the house again, just to be sure and then they searched the house another time because maybe they weren't looking in the right places. Then they searched a fourth time because, well, they thought that Remus would suddenly appear in front of them. They searched and searched the entire house again and again until both of them concluded, that Remus wasn't there.

By this point, Hope had big fat tears rolling down her face and she was pulling her hair. Where was her son? What happened to him? Her breath was fast. She was trembling and was pale. They both said they would search outside. They looked around. They lived in an isolated place so there were no neighbours to ask or to help them search. They went into the woods and held hands, that, was for some reason, more comforting to Hope and it helped her relax a little bit. But only a little bit. The rest of Hope was panicking.

They looked around the woods, calling Remus's name. Hope was choking on tears. They searched for hours, going deeper and deeper into the woods, they were going much deeper than they had ever been before. They searched until Hope and Lyall both heard a howl. Hope clutched Lyall's hand tighter. What was that thing?

 "I think we should go, it's too dangerous," Lyall told Hope and Hope slowly nodded. She wanted to search for Remus. Remus was probably still out there, scared and confused. Well, Hope was scared and confused too. But, she knew it was dangerous to wander in the woods at night.

They both sat down in the living room, not talking to each other. Hope was hoping that Remus would walk through the door, smiling and happy and he would want to eat chocolate. She sat there for who knows how long. The sun was rising, Hope had not slept, but, she didn't feel tired. Instead, she felt sad, scared, confused and angry. Angry at herself. She was so stupid, why did she have to leave the damn room. If she just was there with Remus, he wouldn't be missing. He would be sleeping in his bed, hugging his blue rabbit. Hope and Lyall would be sleeping, without fear and worry.

The next day, Lyall and Hope went into the woods to search, but, they found nothing. The only thing they found was some blood, that was barely visible. Hope started crying when she saw the blood but Lyall told her that, maybe it was an animal. They both went to the police and the wizard police and told them everything. They got a search party and for a few months, they searched everywhere to find Remus. But, there was no sign of him. As the days went by, Hope started to believe that, maybe Remus wasn't going to come. But, she pushed that thought away. 

After a few months, the police and the wizard police stopped searching, they just gave up and people stopped searching for him. During this time, Lyall was unusually quiet. Even now, when Hope would bring up the subject of Remus, Lyall would flinch or, try to change the subject.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Hope would hear Lyall muttering, "It's my fault, It's my fault,". This seemed crazy to Hope, after all, it was her fault Remus disappeared. Lyall had nothing to do with it.

Hope stared at her cereal. The spoon was in the milk and the cereal was soggy. Hope picked up the spoon from the milk and got some cereal and ate it. It tasted off.  She couldn't eat it, her mind was other places. 

Hope got up and paced around the house, she was still thinking about Remus. She went to collect some mops and brooms to clean her house, maybe it would take her mind off things. She cleaned the house, even though she cleaned the house yesterday. But, she still couldn't keep her mind off Remus. So, she fully focused on her cleaning, she looked at the broom and the mops. She suddenly came across Remus's room and all the memories of him came back. She dropped the broom and looked at the door. Lyall and Hope had not been in there for six years. Hope looked at the dusty doorhandle. She put her hand on the handle and turned it.

Hope stepped into the room and a cloud of dust blew into Hope's face. She coughed until the dust left. Tears sprang to her eyes when she saw the room. The blue rabbit was left untouched and it was lying on the ground, still in the same position as six years ago. What was that rabbit's name again? Binky! That was the name.

Hope didn't touch Binky. She looked around the room. On the walls, were photographs with dust on them, they were moving. Remus always liked the wizard photographs because they moved and Hope liked them too. That's why most of the photos here were wizard photos, the downside was that they were in black and white. Hope walked over to Remus's bed. The bed was neatly made. Tears were running down Hope's face. She walked over to the bedside table and on that table, was a photo. This was the only photo in the room that wasn't moving. It had a little bit of colour on it. It was a picture of Remus when he was about two. He was playing with Binky and smiling.

Hope, let out a wail and she sat down on the carpet and buried her face in her hands. She was now letting out sobs. She only had these photos and her memories of Remus, nothing else, she couldn't make any new memories with him. 

And, where was Remus? He just vanished, one moment, he was in the room and then when Hope came back, he was gone. 

What happened to him? Was he doing well? Was he happy? Or, maybe he was dea-

No, don't think about that, Hope told herself.

Did Remus even remember her? Did he miss her? 

Questions were running through Hope's mind and she didn't have enough answers. But, Hope knew that Remus was out there and one day, he will come back home. He could come home tomorrow or in twenty years. But, no matter how long it took, Hope would see Remus come home.

At the ministry

Lyall Lupin was sitting at work, but he couldn't focus on it. He knew what day it was and he wanted to forget about it. He hated himself for it. Wasn't it so convenient, that when he called out the 'tramp' that he was a werewolf, his son went missing? Lyall knew the man was a werewolf. One ministry worker was left unconscious and the man was never seen again. Lyall knew what happened. The werewolf probably killed his son to get revenge. That's why there was blood. He didn't want to tell Hope. What would she think? Hope always had hope that Remus would come back, Lyall didn't believe her, of course. He knew what happened to Remus. Why did he have to tell the werewolf that he deserved nothing but death?

It was his fault. All his fault. He was so stupid. 

Lyall groaned and tried to focus on his work. But, his mind kept drifting to how stupid he was.

Werewolves really deserve nothing but death, Lyall thought. He thought he was correct. After all, it was a werewolf that kidnapped his son.