Is It Over Now?

Chapter fourteen

Remus's skin itched, too tight on his body, and his bones ached in the way that they only did after a full moon. He'd expected to smell the strong scent of coffee and Dora's herbs that he was growing in the garden, and almost choked when he was met with the dampness of bodies and the scent of earth.

Wolves , his mind whispered before he had even opened his eyes.

The previous night came back to him in flashes: the full moon glistening high above as a pack ran through the night, each of them calling to one another during the hunt. They called one another kin and the wolf wondered if he might fit better as one of them. Even in the madness though, he never stopped looking for creatures in the sky and a dark cat at his side.

Remus opened his eyes slowly, hearing nothing but the slow breadths of others around him, none of them awake just yet.

There was stone all around him, the only light coming from the mouth of the cave that they were in. The others slept in small pods, pressed flush against one another, bare skin on display for all to see. He wasn't any better, though he was removed from the rest of them, not yet trusted by the pack.

That was fine.

Remus slowly pushed himself up to his feet, biting back a groan as he weaved through the mass of bodies, his body gaining more strength with each step but still unsteady from the violent change. He almost lost all of the strength completely once he had made it to the mouth of the cave.

The woods were splayed out like a gift before him, the leaves all holding warm hues of varying shades of gold, the mountains tall behind them. The trees looked small though, everything did when the cave you were in was high up one of those mountains with no walkway on either side. He almost wondered how they had gotten that high, but he could smell the magic running through each of the wolves' skin, something thick and metallic that didn't quite smell the same as a wizards'.

"Beautiful isn't it?" A voice asked from Remus's side, the voice low and gravely in a way that only a wolf's could be after a full moon night.

Remus turned slowly, curing himself mentally for not even noticing that the other had crept up beside him, for not knowing that anyone had been awake at all. He wanted to blame his own incompetence on the mistake, but one glance at the stranger told him that it likely wasn't that at all.

The stranger's skin was caked with dirt in the same way that all of those within the pack's was - the way that Remus's was - dirt under his fingernails, and scars shining through the grim. The man couldn't have been older than thirty - three, his hair long and swept in front of his face, matted from not being cared for. His eyes were wild like a beast's, like a man that had completely given himself over to one. From the wolf - like features on his face and fingernails that could almost be called claws, Remus thought that maybe he had.

Greyback .

Remus felt the way that the wolf within him called out to the other and knew that it couldn't be anyone else.

"I chose this place to keep my children safe until the moon, or until we were called for by the Dark Lord," the older wolf explains with a proud smile that revealed too sharp teeth. "What do you think?"

The younger thought about not answering at all, but somehow knew that things would take a very nasty turn should he do so. "It's high," the teen said softly, not knowing which was worse to look at, the monster that had turned him into one, or the ground so far below.

Greyback barked a laugh in a way that reminded Remus of Sirius's, the animalistic tent to it. "Wolves do not like being so far from the ground," the man said simply, as if he was delighted to find that Remus held the instincts of one of them. He probably was. "But a father does what he must to protect his children."