Once in a Blue Moon

CHAPTER ONE

Remus Lupin was badly winded and his legs ached, but he didn't stop running. Fear and adrenaline pushed his little six-year-old body to the limit. He couldn't stop because if he did then the monster would get him. Images of sharp teeth, yellow eyes and dark fur darted across his vision. Remus plowed passed trees and through bushes, zigzagging in an attempt to lose his pursuer. Nothing worked. Remus was losing speed; his endurance was running out. He could hear the monster getting closer. Quickly, he turned his head to look behind him and his foot got hooked on a gnarled tree root. Remus saw stars as his face made contact with frozen mulch. His attempts to get up were interrupted as rows of sharp teeth made contact with his fragile leg. The silence of the night was broken by the sound of braking bones. Intense pain ripped through his entire body as the rest of the world dissolved into darkness.

Remus woke from his dream with a start. He heart was racing and his body was dripping with sweat. He rested his arms on his knees and laid his head in his hands. He breathed deeply for the next few minutes, desperately trying to calm himself. He was safe within the castle walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was lying in his bed in the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory. It was all just a dream...then why was he still shaking?

Remus closed his eyes and layback down, but after ten minutes of tossing and turning decided that sleep was lost on him. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, Remus stood and made his way over to the bay window. He stared pensively through the glass, his gaze wandering over the castle grounds until it came to rest on the moon. The shining silver orb hung gracefully in the night sky, and Remus couldn't help but be entranced by its silent beauty. It would be full tomorrow night, and once again Remus would be forced to undergo his werewolf transformation.

Remus had come to grips with his fate years ago, but the nightmares continued to haunt him. Knowing that he had that monster inside him tormented him. He felt dirty, foul, and unclean. He feared the wolf inside him; feared losing himself in the anger and bloodlust that dominated that animal part of him. That was not Remus John Lupin, the school prefect and overall good guy he believed himself to be. The fact that he could do nothing to stop the changes made him feel powerless, like he was still that six-year-old boy that could to nothing but trip and fall.

Remus sighed heavily and forced himself to look away. He willed himself to concentrate on his friend, Sirius, sleeping soundly in the bed next to his. He watched his friend's chest rise and fall at even intervals. Memories of the past 5 years ran through his mind. Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew were the only really true friends Remus had ever known, and he cherished them like nothing else in the world. They had accepted him, wolf and all, and had strived to help him overcome his handicap. They had lied, stole, fought, and broke about every school rule imaginable for him. Around them he almost felt normal. Almost.

His thoughts were interrupted by an extremely loud snort-mid-snore from Peter three beds down. Remus chuckled softly to himself. If he never received anything else ever again, at least he knew he had his friends.