Mischief Managed Year Two Part One: The Poisoned Truth

Chapter One- Middle of Nowhere

TWs: Abuse and Self-Deprecating Thoughts 

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Summer did not go how Remus planned. After the disastrous ending to Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James' train ride in which he had been threatened by Bellatrix, the young werewolf found his father very angry about how long he took to exit onto the platform. The boy's quiet explanation of falling asleep was believable but not excusable in his father's eyes. Not that he cared about waiting for Remus—as usual, his father's main problem was Remus himself.

"You aren't supposed to stick out at all! What happened to keeping your head down?" his father shouted for the fifteenth time in the past two weeks. It had only been two weeks, yet it felt more like months. Worse, Remus hadn't been able to contact Sirius with the mirror, which worried him to no end.

"I'm sorry, dad."

"I don't want to hear you're sorry!" his father shouted. Lyall Lupin slammed the dishes he was collecting so hard onto the counter they cracked, one plate breaking clean in half. Remus jumped, his knees shaking. His father didn't seem to notice, going back to the table and scrubbing a rag against the surface even though a simple scurgio would have been easier.

Remus almost wished his father hadn't started eating dinner with him, even if the man had kept his promise about staying sober, as far as Remus could tell anyways. At first, more time spent with his father had seemed like a reward, but he realized quickly it was more a punishment than anything. Remus longed for his expected lonely yet quiet summer. Instead, his father didn't leave the house and stamped around the place as if Remus had done something horrendous: slamming doors, breaking dishes, and yelling...a lot.

His father hadn't hurt him...yet. But it seemed like he would at any moment, and the stress of waiting for it to happen was driving Remus insane.

"I don't have friends, dad. Those three students I got in trouble with...it was just a misunderstanding," Remus pleaded. His father just shook his head, eyes sparking with contempt.

"Don't you dare lie to me!" he roared, slamming his fist hard against the rickety kitchen table which creaked in protest. Remus flinched again. He felt miserable and small and, worse, his father's logic was beginning to wear on him. After all, unlike his uncle, his father really was scared for him, which made it harder to deflect the points he brought up...over and over again.

"Don't you get it?" Lyall Lupin hollered. His father crossed the short distance between the table and the sink and gripped Remus' arm tight enough to hurt, dragging him away from the broken dishes and into the living room which also served as his father's bedroom.

"Y...yes!" the young boy whimpered. Then his father finally looked at him, at Remus' eyes, wide with fear, and cheeks damp with tears. He let Remus go, looking disgusted, then sighed and took up his usual place pacing in front of the fireplace, shooting anguished looks at his son, who was quick to make himself small on the couch. He knew the routine well by now.

"Remus, do you know what would happen if anyone found out?" Lyall demanded, his anger turning into a fear that made Remus afraid as well. Back and forth they had gone, nearly every day since Remus returned home, and the exhausted boy wasn't sure how to make it end.

"They would tell the professors and I would be in big trouble and so would Dumbledore," the werewolf cried, quickly wiping at the tears that wouldn't stop falling. He wanted to ask his dad when he'd go back to work but he knew he deserved this. After all, his friends--oh, how much it hurt to think of them as anything less--had come close to discovering what he was last year. If he didn't put a stop to it he was sure they would find out this year.