The last rays of the sunlight hung on the fringes of the lush leaves. The sun set the deep greens ablaze, but the rich hues in the leaves turned the colors of the beautiful sunset into a mockery. Instead of the vivid pinks that now streaked the horizon, the pine needles each looked like daggers with dried blood on them. The clouds that crept in were tinted a brilliant gold that even Midas would envy. However, as that brilliant hue became warped and changed a muddy brown when it touched each leaf of oak, maple, and birch.
Remus Lupin sat at the window, gazing out into the darkening forest under the canopy of trees. It had been two weeks since he’d been outdoors. He rested his head against the windowpane, wishing he could play in the forest he loved so dearly.
It had been two weeks since he’d seen his father. His mother scanned the two letters that his father had written, but she’d selected only parts of them to read out loud to him. Evey realized that, even though Edouard didn’t say much, he was anxious. About what, she didn’t quite understand herself, but she knew powerful people were involved with this scandal.
However, to Remus, this meant little. The young boy only realized that a magical barrier around their house kept him from being outdoors during the long summer days. Evey tried to keep him interested, but after the first week, the confinement put both of them in surly moods.
That was why, tonight, Evey decided she would do something special.
She walked from the kitchen, carrying the same over-laden picnic basket that she used several weeks ago. However, she wore her honey chestnut hair down in long tresses today because of the cooler evening. Also, she wore another one of her Victorian style dresses, but this one was a vivid rose pink. It rustled when she walked and was one of Evey’s personal favorites. Her aunt had embroidered lilacs and roses into her skirt, and they were heavily clustered at the bottom. It was a beautiful work with long sleeves, yet, it was made of a sheer material that was wearable in the summer.
“Remmy,” Evey called to her son. He gave her a bored stare as he turned from the window. Instantly, his eyes widened, and his face lit up as he saw the picnic basket she carried on her arm.
Evey laughed as she tucked her silky hair behind her ears. “Really?” Remus asked anxiously as he ran towards the door. Evey nodded, and joy flushed her features. She knew exactly how her son felt. Being cooped up in the house suited neither of them, and she drew her wand as she walked towards the door.
“We’re going to go down by the lake,” Evey announced as she disarmed the spells around the house. She rushed Remus outside, and put the girdle of spells back so no one could slip in, hide, and wait for them to return. Evey nodded her contentment, deciding the pair wouldn’t be caught unaware while they enjoyed the summer evening.
Remus sprinted through the trees, dashing at full speed towards the lake. He wove between the trunks that towered like pillars of stone under the ceiling of leaves. “Don’t go too far!” Evey shouted after Remus. Her son slowed up and waited for his mother patiently by one of the trees.
Evey and Remus reached the lake together during that summer night. The thick air carried that summer dampness and humidity even into the evening. Water skimmers darted across the surface of the teal lake. They left ripples that spread out as each of their little feet touched. The last rays of the run in the sky reflect across the surface of the water as misquotes buzzed over the placid surface. Bats swooped down from the sky in bursts of energy to catch the flitting insects for a meal.
Evey threw the checkered blanket across the thick swath of grass beside the rushes. Remus went up to the water and pitched a couple stones across the surface.
Splash, splash, splash, plunk!
They would skip and disturb the insects and then sink below the surface to be buried forever beneath the water and muck.
“Remmy,” she called gently, and her voice pierced the quiet calm of the humid, summer evening. Remus obediently came to his mother, who offered him a sandwich. The two ate in silence as Remus shoved his food into his mouth, eager to go play by the lake again.
Evey finished her drink as Remus left the blanket and ran back towards the lake. Her warm smile crossed her full, strawberry lips as she gazed at her son skipping rocks.
Splash, splash, splash, plunk!
Remus lent down into the rushes and dove to scoop a toad up into his palms. He carefully held the animal as he made his way back over to Evey, whom remained on the blanket.
“Mum,” Remus exclaimed as he held out his hands, which gently held the wart covered toad. Evey chuckled as she ran her index and middle finger along the toad’s bumpy back.
“He probably wants to go back to the water,” Evey told her son after they both had studied the little amphibian. Remus nodded gravely as he went and placed the toad back into the mud. Evey sighed and took a deep breath of the pine-scented air. She leaned back onto the blanket and propped her head up on her arms. She let her eyes flicker shut after staring at the underside of the trees, which gradually darkened the forest, and light was further drained from the sky.
As she dozed in that relaxing state between consciousness and sleep, Evey could hear Remus playing by the pond. She would hear a splash and a giggle occasionally, which comforted her heart. The sounds of her happy son echoed into her subconscious and relaxed her into a state of lethargy. Occasionally, she would hear a sound behind her in the woods, and those kept her from drifting too far into her dreams.
“Mum!” Remus exclaimed and interrupted Evey’s rest. “Come and play!”
Evey rose from her blanket, feeling warm and rested, and met her young son by the lake. By now, all the light had drained from the east, but a gentle blue still lingered in the west of the sky. Over the treetops rose a silvery moon that was reflected in the darkening blue water. The lake took on the deeper shades of night that crept into the skies. Several stars winked from their reflections in the glassy water.
“You’re messy,” Evey lightly scolded her son. Remus obviously had run into the water because his pants were soaked up to his knees. He stained his blue T-shirt and gray pants with thick smears of mud where he’d fallen down. As Evey examined her son, she picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake.
Splash, splash, splash, splash, plunk!
It skipped four times before sinking with a plop below the surface.
“Good throw,” Remus said as he threw a rock, which skipped only three times and sank.
Splash, splash, splash, plunk!
Evey reached up and grasped one of the little fireflies that blinked fluorescent green. She let it run across her hand while it illuminated her palm. She held it up for Remus to see, and the bug scuttled to the edge of her palm, spread its black wings, and flew away into the darkness. By now, the night had thoroughly descended upon the forest, and a swollen moon hung over the horizon.
“Look!” Remus shouted as he reached down and scooped up one of the fireflies into his hand. As he grasped it, the little insect’s wing was caught in his hand. Remus looked down at it as it skidded across his palm, trying to fly with the maimed side of its body. As the insect leapt into the air, it faltered and fell into the water. The creature struggled pathetically for a moment before it sunk beneath the surface like the rocks.
“I . . .” Remus muttered as he watched the little animal’s silent death. The crickets seemed to lament it as they chirped their evening song from the rushes. The swollen moon made no reply as it hung wordlessly in the sky like an elaborate wall decoration among the stars.
“I’ll catch another one,” Evey reassured her son as she stretched out her ivory arms to grasp another firefly. As she went to touch it, crackling and rustling in the dense forest behind her made her pause. She turned towards the wood, which was cloaked in a shroud of darkness under the trees. The forest, while stained with patches of sun and inviting during the daylight, seemed haunted in the darkness. The silver light of the full moon cut silver slivers through the dense canopy into the undergrowth.
Evey peered into the dark woods, trying to make out anything in the patches of light. She stared into the dense forest, trying to catch any movement because the sound had been loud. It frightened her, and she remembered her husband’s warning. “Remmy, let’s go home,” Evey muttered as she clutched her son’s shoulder.
“Stay by the lake,” Evey told her son as she knelt down and folded up the blanket. Evey looked up, after shoving her blanket into the basket, into the ebony vastness of the forest. Her eyes fell upon a patch of silver, but it rippled and moved. Evey then found the pair of glowing, yellow eyes that went with the wolf gazing hungrily back at her.
“Remus! Run!”
Evey’s hand darted for her wand, but the creature leapt in a blur of gray fur. It struck her. Evey lay stunned after she collapsed under the weight of the creature. Its putrid breath invaded her nostrils, and she stared up into the slobbering mouth and glowing eyes. As it stood on her, its claws dug into her soft flesh.
“Ah!” Evey moaned in pain, screeching for help as she felt her death approaching. Then, the creature shifted its head in another direction and leapt off Evey as easily as it had attacked her. Something more succulent had caught the wolf’s attention.
With blood gushing from several scratches, Evey rolled onto her side. She struggled to her feet and looked for the wolf. She saw it, bounding across the grass by the lake, heading once again for the forest. Yet, Remus had a head start and sprinted for his life ahead of the drooling creature with eyes like yellow pits of flame.
As Remus approached the tree line, he paused for a moment and looked back. Evey’s heart stopped beating as she met her son’s soft, sable eyes. He paused to find her. The creature easily made up the distance between himself and the child.
It lunged.
Evey watched as the monster bit into her son’s arm. It dragged him down as blood poured from the wound, mingling with the monster’s saliva. Evey knew what it was. She might have cried, but she drew her wand without thinking. She now dashed towards the monster that yanked her screaming child towards the lake again.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Evey hurtled herself forward to grab her son as the creature froze, but the spell would not work completely against it. She tugged her child towards her, but the teeth still held Remus’s arm. He hollered in agony, which sliced open the calm night like a knife.
The child’s screams also seemed to reawaken the fiery blood lust in the creature. He renewed his hold on the child’s arm. Evey grunted, and her eyes met the creature’s hungry eyes as she cast the spell so many times that the forest echoed with her cries.
She wrenched Remus free, but he moaned in agony and began to cry as Evey struggled away from the beast. The creature roused itself easily from the barrage of Evey’s spells, and it focused once again on its escaping prey. Now, it’s beastly anger flared against the woman, too, as it lunged towards the pair.
It leapt for her neck, but Evey moved. The creature’s claws slashed at her, cutting her face and arms. She lay sprawled on the ground with Remus clutched in her arms. The beast hunched on top of the pair with a mouth full of Evey’s honey locks. It tugged, and assumed it had bitten flesh. Evey jerked away, trying to escape.
The mother’s scream now split the night, too, as the wolf yanked half of her hair free. Pieces of bloody scalp trailed it, but Evey managed to tug away from the monster. It stood, stunned, trying to comprehend what it had bitten.
Evey dashed towards the forest as blood began to drip onto her left eyelid. It soon slid into her eye, obscuring part of her vision. As the monster saw its quarry escaping, it let out a howl that almost stopped Evey from dashing away. The sound curdled her blood, but she kept racing towards the tree line. It lunged again with the speed that only a predator can master.
“Confundo! Confundo!” Evey struck the creature with one hand as she held Remus with the other. The creature pinned them to the ground, but Evey kept throwing charms at it. The creature soon didn’t have enough sense to do further harm, but it clawed into Evey’s dress. The sharp talons dug into her soft skin and into Remus, whom Evey tried desperately to shield with her own body.
“Impedimenta!” It was a last effort, and the dazed wolf flew off the pair. Evey, unable to see in one eye, managed to stand.
“Impedimenta!” The creature hurtled towards the edge of the lake. Determination, greater than the yellow hunger in the wolf’s eyes, gleamed forth like a star spending its last energy in Evey’s eyes. She stared into the horrid animal’s face as she shrieked, “Impedimenta!”
The spell, made with the greatest of efforts, flung the animal into the middle of the lake. The water seemed to quench the beast’s anger as it yelped and began to paddle toward the opposite shore.
With all her energy spent, Evey cradled Remus and stumbled into the foreboding forest. The trees loomed like tall giants swaying in a great wind. The earth moved with ruptures under her feet as she searched for her home. The patches of moonlight illuminated everything they touched like a glaring spotlight. She would pass into the unbearable light, and then, into utter darkness for a few more moments. Spots of color exploded in front of her good eye.
When she reached the house, she wasn’t aware she was still stumbling onwards. She didn’t have enough strength to disarm the magical barrier she put up earlier. Remus moaned as Evey groped for her doorknob. They collided with the barrier and sailed backwards.
Evey hit the tree, which finished her valiant stand. She collapsed across the ground with Remus still clutched in her arms. As she gazed up with one good eye, the image of the full moon filled her mind.
The clouds descended during the night and now created a low ceiling over the world. Their gray presence pressed down on the earth, threatening to suffocate anything living there. During the dreary night, it drizzled lightly on the dormant earth. This meager attempt on the part of the rain to revive the land fell far short of its goal; the earth remained unshakably in the grip of winter in the little hamlet of Or.
After the little sprinkling from those oppressive clouds, the little mist that did come to earth froze instantly in the climate. People watched their feet solemnly as they trekked through the mud to the open gravesite. Each blade of grass remained encased in a coat of frost that broke as people made their way through the cemetery.
Only a handful of souls made the journey to St. Joseph’s Cemetery on that day. The biting sting the wind possessed the day before evolved into one constant, frigid temperature. Many of the people that stood close to the grave wrapped themselves in long, woolen trench coats. The priest, however, wore only sober black robe that touched the frozen earth. Standing at the back of the crowd, and trying to be ignored, stood two figures. Behind a near by headstone crouched a jet-black dog.
Bjorn donned a flowing, black robe for the occasion. He wore his ebony, velvet Bowler hat, which did little to keep out the chill that followed the bitter winds. Remus wore the same tattered, gray robes. The miserably thin pieces of clothing did little to stop the biting air from attacking Remus’s very bones.
“In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” the priest began to chant the last words of the ceremony. Remus stuffed his hands into the narrow pockets of his robes, trying to find some warmth. ‘This is almost over,’ he reassured himself.
“We commend this body to the earth until the Day of Judgement,” the priest’s words echoed across the silent cemetery. Everyone there attended the pathetic little service, where the priest struggled to scrap together a message even ten minutes long on Edouard Lupin. ‘They knew so little about him,’ Remus had thought as he fixed a stony stare on the balding priest at the gravesite.
“We are ashes and to ashes we return,” the priest solemnly proclaimed as he bowed his head. Several men dressed in black suits came forwards and lowered the coffin into the hole that led six feet into the frozen ground.
No one wept; the wind hushed as if to accent the silence. No birds sang as the clutches of winter gripped the earth. ‘He got his wish to be forgotten,’ Remus mused as he watched the Muggles leave the side of the grave. They passed by the two wizards without a glance as they eagerly sought the warmth of cars and houses.
Despite everything, Remus remained transfixed to the spot. The hole in the ground entranced him. Maybe the cold seeped into his bones and paralyzed him to stare until a single memory resurfaced. ‘They died that day,’ Remus realized as he gazed at images that flickered through from the past.
The boy woke up.
The white room, which spelled of pungent potions, confused him.
The voices that floated from some where beyond his field of vision were unfamiliar.
“A little more. Make sure the skin is healing. Cut the rest of the hair.”
“Treat those scratches. They might have some infection in them. No bites?” Another voice floated up and joined the first. Remus gradually began to recognize each of the male voices.
“None,” the first man replied. Remus lay and stared up at the white tiles. Clouds enveloped his mind, and he only listened to the two men. It was so hard to think.
“Amazing. The boy was horribly wounded.” At that comment, Remus frowned and looked down at himself. A white bandaged covered his arm, and when he moved it, he felt a terrible stab of pain.
The stinging, horrible pain revived a vivid image of flashing white teeth. Remus moaned, and a white curtain beside him swooshed away to reveal a tall man in white robes.
“Lay down.” It was the voice of the first man. He went over to Remus and tried to ease him back onto the pillow. “The boy might need more of that pain killer. I hope you made a strong batch.”
“I’ll get his father,” the second man replied as he strode out of the room. As the first man tried to soothe Remus, the boy’s eyes strayed to the other side of the curtain. On the other side of the linen barrier stood another bed. A figure, the entire head wrapped in bandages, lay motionless.
When he saw her face, he knew.
“Mum!” Remus shrieked, forgetting the pain in his arm. He ignored the man in robes and dodged him. He scampered across the room in a little white night gown towards the prostate form of Evelyn Lupin.
“You need to lay down!” The healer had shouted at Remus; Remus ignored the irritated voice of that man. He gazed only at the ashen face before him. Gouges lined the one side of her face, and her golden locks lay scattered on the floor. Sterile, white bandages encased the area where those honey locks used to grow.
“Mum,” Remus whimpered as he tugged Evelyn’s hand. Her arms remained shrouded in bandages. Instead of a fair dress, she wore a simple, white dressing gown.
Tears began to seep into Remus’s eyes. He didn’t remember much, but as he saw his mother, he understood. He knew she suffered. In his heart, Remus knew part of her died. The full lips withered like a wilted flower. The inner sunlight she possessed seemed completely faded from her figure that had the look of a corpse about it. Yet, her chest rose slowly, and Remus knew she lived as he saw the sheets move with her slow breathing.
“Remus.”
The raspy voice sounded foreign to the boy for a moment. He turned, eyes already swelling with tears, and looked up into the haggard face of his father.
“He needs to rest,” one of the men insisted. Edouard shook his head grimly.
“I need to talk to my son. Leave.” Edouard’s words left nothing to be discussed. The two men stared at each other helplessly before leaving the room.
“Mum?” Remus asked as he looked up into the care worn face of his father. His father’s gentle eyes stared back at him red and blood shot. The hair on his head appeared to have grown grayer and thinner since Remus saw him two weeks ago. The age and cares of a man a decade his senior now etched themselves into Edouard’s face.
“What . . .”
Remus’s question died on his lips. The pair of sable eyes met. No amusement or gentle caring lingered in his father’s eyes. Weariness consumed them, but behind that weariness, another emotion Remus never experienced before surfaced. It was from his own father that Remus saw that look of disgust. That look of weary loathing etched itself into the young boy’s mind.
Edouard then looked up at Evelyn. That same look remained in his eyes as he stared down at his battered wife. “Remus, what did you do?”
“I-I don’t remember,” Remus whimpered. Tears streamed down his face, etching little rivulets on his cheeks. As more tears flowed, the tracks they followed became creeks and then rivers.
“She won’t be okay,” Edouard muttered. If Remus had looked, he would have seen several tears cascade down the lined face of his beaten father. Edouard then took a set of papers from his pocket. He drew his wand and lit them on fire, and they slowly disintegrated to ashes. After gazing quietly at his wife, Edouard whipped his eyes and addressed his sobbing son.
“You’re not going to be okay, either,” his father told him frankly. He stood behind his son as they both gazed at the prostate form of the unconscious Evelyn. “Be strong. For her.”
“I-I can’t,” Remus blubbered as he gazed down at the strangely almost lifeless form on the white sheets. He knew, in the deepest part of his gut, that she would never laugh the same or smile like the summer sun again.
In the deepest part of his childish heart, Remus realized that his father labeled him ‘bad.’ It would be a while before he loathed how his father thought of him as a burden. It would be years before the biting accusations and falling out between the two. It would be decades before Remus carried the cold feelings begun that day around with him.
Between the two, at that moment, a rift opened. An understanding occurred between the silent father and his wounded son. Both knew that innocence ended that day. They both realized, on different levels, that that prostate form signified the end of the close bond they once had.
Edouard held the blame, and placed it on his son, too.