HOWL | REMUS LUPIN

THIRTY-SIX

- CHAPTER 36 -

❝Please, stay with me.❞

HOGWARTS.

THE ONLY TIME REMUS had felt so terrified like this, it was when he first got bit by Fenrir Greyback. At that time, he was only five years old. However, that pain had lasted with him his whole entire life.

And now, standing amongst all the chaos and only being able to see Phoenyx in front him, Remus could feel the fear engulf his body once more.

At first he had thought, she couldn't leave him like this, could she? She wasn't that heartless, not like the Phoenyx he knew and loved. There's no way she'd leave him alone, right?

He could feel himself falling to the ground, hear the voices around him, feel the dirt beneath his fingers, but his heart had almost stopped beating.

It was as if he was drowning. He was drowning endlessly and there was no saving him now.

"Remus, she's gonna be okay, a-alright?" said Alice nervously.

Truth to be told, she did not know if Phoenyx was going to be okay. In order to console the boy, and herself, she had uttered those words without thinking too hard on it.

It's quite fascinating how time flies by so fast. One moment, you're taking in the beauty of the world with no worry etched in your mind. You're filled with wonder, with hope. And the next, your world has come crashing down. You feel like you're about to fall, fall into an endless pit of nothing.

"Phoenyx!"

Regulus Black looked at the girl with wide eyes. No, this can't be. They promised to end this together, make it out together, spend the future together.

"R-Reg.."

Finally seeing the boy, James melted into the arms of his lover. Thankful that at least one of the people he had been crying so hard for was alive and right in front of his eyes.

"Well, she seems to be doing okay. But I won't you all to prepare yourselves for the future. Anything is possible, she was bitten after all."

"W-What?"

Remus looked at the healer with shock, she was okay, but at what cost?

"No, no this can't be."

He was in disbelief, in absolute pain. He was scared, terrified to say the least. The one thing he loathed, he hated, he feared the most, it had happened and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

His first instinct was to step away from the girl, eyes tearing up and his mind not accepting the truth. She was bitten. His Nyx, she would become a werewolf.

"M-Mom," came the painful voice of Phoenyx Potter.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry."

Euphemia was, for once, feeling like she had failed her child completely. The promise she had once made with herself, to protect the girl from all the dangers of the world was long gone, it was broken.

She worked hard every single day to raise her kids as best as she could. Doing whatever it takes to give them a happy and healthy life. But now, in just a few minutes, her world had come crashing down and it had felt like after all those years, she had failed.

"M-Mom, it's not your fault," the girl said tearfully.

Phoenyx was fighting alongside the boys when she had heard her mothers shout. Looking over, Phoenyx could see her mother struggling to fight the death eaters alone. Out of instinct, she went to help her mother out and, in the process of it all, she had gotten bitten by Fenrir Greyback.

Oh how cruel the world can be. One single man, who had ruined the lives of many innocent children, had done it all once more.

The girl's tearful eyes moved towards the boy she had been waiting so earnestly for. And looking at him, she could feel her heart break into a million pieces.

Remus looked absolutely broken. She knew that a part of him was terrified about the future. The boy had experienced full moons for years now, he knew how painful they can be.

He knew how deeply they scar you, inside and out. No matter how happy you are, no matter how many days you have passed with hope and wonder, lycanthropy will always bring you down.

Even the best and happiest of people would become absolutely helpless if they had to go through something as terrible as this.

"Remus, please, stay with me."