The Moon's Companion

Chapter 1

Problem in the Pridesmeare Pub

Hate, anger, despair, and loneliness had torn apart his soul. It had only been a year since Lily and James and poor little defenseless Peter had died. He hated him. Sirius that is. He really thought he did, for he couldn't tell if the hate was real since only himself and never had placed the hate on anyone else before. But Sirius could make him hate now. He took away everything he had to live for. Now there was nothing else. No family. No friends. No life purpose. All I have is this mangy pub.

Remus Lupin had never been a drinker. He just never cared for the stuff. Plus, it tasted too strong for his own good. The only reason he ever spent time in the pub was because...well, there wasn't really much a reason at all. He just didn't know what to do with himself. He just sat there and sulked most of the time, pretending to drink his ale. Always keeping to his secluded manner, always hunched over the counter and scrunched up as if he had no room to breathe even. But there was never anyone there blocking his space. He always sat alone. Alone. He only knew the one word.

It was another one of those days; the type of day when he'd just sit speechless and practically motionless in the Pridesmeare Pub. The full moon was four days away and his entire body seemed about ten times heavier than normal. He knew he looked bad and he could plainly feel the pain in his churning stomach rebounding on his face. The bartender kept shooting anxious glances at him every time he walked by, but seemed to decide against actually confronting Remus, who looked especially feverish but agitated as if he might explode at any minute.

There were very few people in the pub this late at night. There never were very many to begin with. The single auburn-haired waitress was silently sweeping in the corner, a couple sat whispering in hushed voices near the window, and an older but muscular man similar to a motorcyclist that he had seen in a magazine Sirius had once showed him, sat sipping his drink quietly in the corner. Why do I keep thinking about him? The door must have opened since the rarely tinkling bell on the door rang and someone walked in.

Remus hardly noticed when the newcomer sat down next to him. He was so used to being alone and isolated as he was. He did notice whoever it was, however, when he leaned back from his hunched over position in order to begin coughing. When he leaned back though he nearly slipped off his seat because the young, weary-looking boy next to him was so unexpected to see.

He strategically stifled his coughs and turned his back towards the stranger. If there was anyone in the pub, he would just avoid them and most regulars learned to ignore his presence just as he ignored them. This boy was violating his personal space. But how was he to know? He had never been here, and from what little he saw of him while peeking under his arm, the boy looked absolutely exhausted. He was dangerously thin, with dark-brown hair and a pale complexion. The look upon his long face showed more than exhaustion though. It was like looking at his reflection! This young boy, probably about fifteen, was Remus's own face, but not hard and fixed like now and instead fearful and concealing.

Remus couldn't stand it. Who was he?

"Who are you?" The simple question came out much harsher than he had expected. He seldom spoke to anyone so his voice didn't have much training. There were a few passerby's here and there and then Dumbledore visited occasionally, but after all he'd been through, he didn't care to speak to anybody.

"Why do you care?" answered the boy just as roughly. He eyed Remus with eyes that were just as dark as his. They showed a miserable darkness -just like Remus's.

He's just like Sirius! No, no one can be as bad as he can.. "Just curious is all," he said slyly, similar to when he had interrogated the Ravenclaw girls to figure out who their new Chaser was - to the benefit of James. The memories were overwhelming so he chose to forget the thought and he remembered his manners instead. He cleared his throat and stuck out his hand in greeting trying to be a bit more polite. "Remus Lupin. And you may be?"

The young boy beside him seemed to be contemplating some big decision. His suspicious mood didn't change as he hesitated even in shaking Remus's hand in return, which was done quite tightly for being so skinny. "Moeris is all."

"Only a first name?" he asked curiously. Moeris clearly didn't want to say any more but continued on fiercely as he brushed his drooping hair off his face.

"If you must know, it's Moeris Coan."

At this, Remus immediately cut off his twisted attempted smile. Cana Coan was his own mother. "Who was your mother, Moeris?" he said desperately, nearly shouting. The bartender glanced up at the sudden noise from his direction but only shook his head and continued drying the glasses.

"Joasta Coan. Actually, if you want the truth, sir..." Moeris turned slightly redder and sweatier than he already was. "I kinda need your help.'

This statement was completely absurd. "You? Need me?" he jerked out, beginning to smile. "Why would you need my help?" He chuckled freely to himself. "No one cares for me." I'm starting to sound like Sirius... "First of all, this means you're related to me right? I haven't spoken to any of my distant family since I was... what, six?" He trailed off mindlessly mainly speaking to himself. This was all so crazy.

Moeris avoided his eyes purposely, peering at the rather uninteresting painting of fruits on the wall across from him. "I have this problem, and, how should I say this?" He was clearly struggling to make his point. "I know something about you and I found out from my Mum a long time ago. Actually, I was eavesdropping..." he trailed off fearing giving away too much information because of his babbling.

Remus went completely rigid. He knows?! There was still hope. He could mean anything, he assured himself. But this is just too crazy...

"You're nuts, kid," he spat out, "and I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted. "I can't help you with any problems since I have my own to deal with." He dug hastily into his pocket and found his last money. Three knuts clanged on the counter and he completely missed the bartender yelling at him because he was already pacing home on the muddy dirt path heading west.

Though Moeris was frail, he somehow managed to catch up with Remus after a few minutes. "Sir, - couldn't you - just - listen?" he panted. He finally caught up so much that he was jogging alongside him. Remus turned to him and stopped abruptly because he couldn't run anymore, sick as he was.

"What?" he panted back, finally giving in. "I assure you that I have no secrets." What does he have to do with me? Poking around my business...

Moeris learned in closer and whispered timidly but strongly, "Except that you're a werewolf."

Remus went ghost white. He straightened up, trying to look insulted. Unfortunately he only managed an anxious pose. His life was so screwed up already so he didn't care what would happen anymore. "Well, I can't deny the statement," he replied, not sure if he should be telling him this. What does it matter now? Why can't they just find me and kill me, this monster, and never have to deal with me again?

Moeris chose to scan the starry sky over facing his acquaintance. "I can't deny it either."

Remus didn't know what to say - or do for that matter. He just stood there beside Moeris and watched as he scuffed his feet in the mud. Moeris didn't look up.

Moeris looked up frightened. "That's why I need your help."

Chapter 2

Apex of the Moon

Remus just didn't know where to begin. He couldn't deal with this kid. He barely met him and he didn't know how to help. He could hardly deal with his own lycanthropy. The full moon was four days away and he could feel it even stronger now tugging at his heart; it was going to be a tough one. By the look on Moeris's grimacing face, he could tell Moeris felt it too.

Remus needed to start somewhere. Moeris looked worried and had a set face willing to meet the rejection that he expected. He couldn't keep him waiting.

"I don't even know anything about you," he blurted out roughly. Moeris stopped scuffing his shoe in the mud and inched his gray face upward towards the night sky. The waxing gibbous lit up his face as Remus awaited some kind of response. Surprisingly, Moeris turned his heel and began walking away in the opposite direction.

Shocked at the youth that had been so brave to search him out and confront him, Remus called after him, "Wait! Wait!" Moeris tilted his head and eyed him back uselessly. "I was only stating a fact. That doesn't mean I can't get to know you. I'll - I'll try to help you." He surprised himself for not thinking through his actions like he always did. It'snot like I have anything to loose, he reminded himself. "I'll help the best I can..."

Moeris made an action as if to grasp his arm and shake it joyously or perhaps give him a hug but decided otherwise. Remus tried to smile back but instead gave him his usual wry face that turned out looking like a painful expression.

"We should probably head back to my pad." Moeris simply shook his head in head in agreement and followed Remus on the continuous path west.

The two approached Remus's home - a dull gray worn one story house in the countryside of Carlisle. Resting upon a small slope in a clearing of forest, the house was now lifeless. Remus didn't tend to the former garden anymore, there were seldom any guests that it seemed like no one lived there, and no animals fancied the area either - that is unless you consider Remus an animal. Moeris didn't ask questions but just followed his relative's lead, thankful for having him accept him in.

Once inside, Remus motioned towards the shabby couch in a room to the left of the main entrance. Moeris sat down wordlessly and watched Remus, not even looking around at the new surroundings.

Remus silently shuffled through a drawer with a dusty lamp on it and found some loose parchment. On it he scribbled a note that he hoped wasn't too desperate sounding and more casual, even though the matter at hand was in fact very important. His Marauder instincts were still in him.

Dumbledore-

I'm quite fine here lately. I do need to speak to you soon though. Could you please meet me here at my home two days after the full moon (sorry, but I don't have a calendar to tell you the exact day) at around noon?
-Remus Lupin

I wish I could ask him to bring food. But that wouldn't go along very well would it?

Moeris looked up at him suspiciously. "That's about me, isn't it?" he accused jerking his dark-haired head to the fresh letter in his hands.

"No it's not. Trust me. For now, it looks like I'm stuck with you and you with me so don't mess it up." He left Moeris alone for a moment but soon returned with a very tattered scrawny owl. He tied the parchment to its leg and released it through the window. "You can't stop it now, anyway," he murmured, realizing that his statement applied to his own situation as well.

"I wish I had some food for you. I'm kind of - drained. Of money, that is." He tried to smile but this was nothing to be happy about. The only person he knew - or thought he did - that could pretend to be happy was Sirius. Damn it. I can't stop thinking about that bastard.

"It's alright. Here's definitely better than where I came from. I - I didn't want to be discovered. I just ran away instead. Its better that way," he assured himself. "If you help me, maybe I can out of this somehow."

"I'm afraid you can't Moeris. Once bitten, you're done for. If you survive the devastating bite, then you're lucky if you survive you first full moon, and after that the next full moon, and the next, and the next... It's an unending cycle that I've had to endure since that wretched night when I was only five years old. I never would have made it without my friends though...Some of them at least," he added when he recalled Sirius. For what it was worth, he did help me for some of my life. "Moeris, I don't know if you can call me a friend yet, but probably the most important thing you should remember to keep yourself from having an even more miserable life, is conceal your secret. But don't conceal you. If you loose yourself - your personality - then there's no meaning to your life. That way you may as well kill yourself, for you'll have no friends at all and with that no life." Self disgust began seeping through his words. "But I, I made friends somehow. Only I misunderstood one of them and now he's in Azkaban and I lost all my other companions because of him." Listen to me. Telling him about life and its purpose!

"You're brave, Moeris. You confronted me willingly. But then again you had nothing to loose, as did I. I only wish I could let you rely on me entirely because I honestly don't know what will happen. Have you transformed before?"

Listening intently, Moeris was happy to participate in his speech. "Well, yes of course. That's how I figured it all out. Let me explain," he urged seeing a puzzled look on the shabby man's pale face. "About maybe half a year ago I was bitten. I was trying out that Muggle thing called camping with my friends Hector and Apollo. I wandered off to get the firewood and then I noticed something gleaming in the bushes. I just had to go look to see what it was," he said. I don't remember anything from then. I suppose I blacked out. I came to myself a couple days later. I was bloody and dirty and stuck in a natural trench somewhere out in the woods. After that I tried to find my way home. Unfortunately, the full moon came soon and I found it all out. I was a werewolf. Then I went on the run and remembered my mom gossiping about her sister and her husband who had a son - that was a werewolf." Remus flinched at the word. "So I decided to look for you." He finished without any comments and watched as Remus as he began some quick thinking in his head.

"I don't want to worry you. I simply have no idea as to how you or I will react with another werewolf present. I don't want to take any chances."

"What have we got to loose?" prodded Moeris.

Remus smiled. A true smile. There was in fact nothing to loose. If we make it through this one night, then maybe we'll have something to loose. So far, the horizon is pretty broad and I really don't care. But the boy... he's only a child...

Tonight was the full moon. What if I transform first? What he transforms first? What if something bad happens? What if we get out of the shed? All sorts of questions were tumbling throughout his mind. He had planned it all out pretty much. He would lock himself up one stall and Moeris in the other. Obviously, he had magically attached a few boards to the bottom and over the top of the stable to create a sort of cage for each of them. He didn't want to risk any werewolf interaction since he didn't know what would happen. He had never met another werewolf - not that he knew of at least - and thus never had any contact with one. He preferred to not think about the potential consequences of both of them meeting one another in werewolf form.

Moeris had been sleeping all day long. His malady was clearly visible. When Remus woke him an hour before dusk, he pretended not to notice the blankets, which were literally drenched from sweat.

Moeris looked a bit ruffled, but nevertheless fearless. He was prepared for anything. In contrast, Remus wasn't. He couldn't stand the devastation of a young boy's life like that. He had an entire life ahead of him - or so he hoped if he got past this one night. He on the other hand, was older and didn't care anymore. He truly had nothing to live for at the time, but the boy did.

"So you're gonna lock me up in the stable right?" asked Moeris as if he was a student in class.

"Yes," uttered Remus in return. He would've died for the boy then and there as long as Moeris wouldn't have to transform again. "Why don't you just get in there and undress so that you won't ruin your clothes. I'll be back in a second."

Remus rushed out, not wanting to face the truth of what he was doing to this innocent kid. I should've just told Dumbledore, he battled with himself. Plagued with uncertainty and doubt, he couldn't help but leave a note. Digging into the drawer, he found a quill and paper to scribble a note on. It took a considerable amount longer than normal, for his hand was shaking uncontrollably. There wasn't much time left.

Dumbledore-

If you can't find me, I'm probably in the shed. There will be another boy with me. Hopefully... If something happens to him, contact his mother, Joasta Coan. If anything happens to me, well, that doesn't quite matter does it? I just hope you never need to read this note, Headmaster. Once again, I'll thank you for everything you ever did for me. I just wish I could have paid you back somehow, only I don't have any money... After a brief thought, he finally added one last sentence. Give my best to Sirius if you visit him.

-Remus J. Lupin

Solemnly he placed the note on the table and never gave it a second thought. He paced back to the shed hurriedly to join Moeris. He closed the shed door, but for some reason he never put the Unbreakable Spell on the walls. Some part of him would not let him do it. He raised his arm as if to say the incantation but dropped it in distaste and followed to check the lock on Moeris's stable. He then undressed himself and locked himself into his own stable.

Shaking more than ever, he immediately fell to the ground in the dark of his tomb. He was no longer a person, nor was his packmate in the cell beside him. Darkness overtook them both as the moon reached its apex and there was no more to be remembered.