Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

Full Moon

It had been four days since Remus sent his letter to Sirius, and still there was no reply. Normally, this wouldn't worry him, but considering that Sirius had been sending a letter a day as of late, it seemed a bit odd that none had come for four.

With the full moon so near, Remus was unable to eat or sleep, which gave him a great amount of time to spend worrying.

Remus laid on his bed and closed his eyes. The sun shining through the window was adding to his pounding headache.

He rose suddenly as the flapping of wings neared his room. When Remus looked out the window, he was disappointed to see James' beautiful great horned owl approaching.

None the less, he took the parchment from her leg and read it carefully

08-14
Remus

Sirius would like me to tell you that Walburga killed Heng. I'm not sure of why, but with Walburga it could be almost anything.

He is rather upset. But says not to send any more owls, as 'she might feel fit to snap their necks too.'

James

Between his heightened emotions and overall attachment to Sirius, Remus took this news like a punch to the gut.

It was nearly sundown and Remus wanted to see that Candor would have a safe journey home.

08-15
James

Thanks for letting me know.

See you soon,
RL

Remus' mother barged into his room early the next morning. Remus was awake and already had his trunk packed.

"Let's go dear," she said calmly, though her face was twisted in worry.

It was nearly a 2 hour drive to Remus' great uncle's cabin. But, Remus supposed that was the point. He needed to be as far away from humans as possible when he transformed.

The first thing Remus did when he got to the cabin was set his remedies out on the kitchen table: blood replenishing potion, burning bitterroot balm, Murtlap Essence, and stargrass salve, Remus also had a bottle of Baneberry potion, but decided to leave it stashed away. Each of these was a gift from Madam Pomfrey. At the end of every year, she and Professor McGonagall made sure to send Remus home with everything they could to help him through his transformations.

The hours leading up to the full moon were painstakingly long. Remus tried as hard as he could to read his textbooks, but his head was throbbing, and he couldn't help but think about how much Sirius was probably suffering now that he was truly alone with Walburga and Orion.

Remus could sense when the moon was nearing its peak. While he was still in a cognitive state, he locked himself in the bedroom that was charmed to let the moonlight in, but stop Remus from getting out. He waited for the painful transformation to begin. When he felt the first bit of searing pain, Remus tried to think of something pleasant. He settled on the memory of being sorted into Gryffindor.

The happy memory soon turned sour as it progressed to Sirius' sorting. Eventually all Remus could think about was his hatred for Orion and Walburga Black.

The next thing Remus remembered was searing pain and the smell of blood.

His memory was spotted from there until he woke up in a pool of dried crimson.

Groggily, he propped himself up on the back of his elbows, wincing as he did so- it felt like his chest was on fire. He looked down. The sight before him nearly made him faint. Gouged deep into his chest were three claw marks.

Painfully, he got to his feet and stumbled the the kitchen. First, he downed the blood replenishing potion. He then took to covering his chest with the stargrass salve; the Murtlap Essence would have very little effect on cuts so deep.

Remus' head was still pounding as he slipped in and out of sleep throughout the day. He was tucking into his fourth chocolate frog (sent by Minerva) of the day when his mom finally came back to pick him up.

He wordlessly picked up his trunk and brushed past her as he walked out the door. He didn't want to talk to her about his transformation.

There was only one person he could even stand the thought of talking to.