Mischief Managed Year Two Part One: The Poisoned Truth

Chapter Six- Taking a Stance

TWs: Mentions of Past Traumatic Events, Abuse, and Neglect

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Remus sat up in his bed, feeling groggy and sore. His father had kept him from heading to Hogwarts two more days than necessary, and he was beginning to fear that Lyall wasn't going to let him go back to Hogwarts at all. Remus reached off his bed, touching his trunk already packed with supplies. His father wouldn't waste all that money if he had no intention of sending him back...right? Because even if Lyall had been annoying him most of the summer, ignoring the few, very subtle, feeble attempts Remus made at trying to find out more information about the boy that haunted his dreams, his dad had behaved and had not hit him once!

Oddly enough, even after the first transformation back 'home,' his father didn't seem fearful of him. He just seemed...sad. It was confusing and problematic, because every time Remus got up his nerve to ask his father about his "imaginary friend" and what he had found in his uncle's house, he was stopped by the expression of sorrow on his dad's face. Remus knew he was being a coward, but he just couldn't bear to see that expression on his father's face for any longer than necessary. It was bad enough that Remus had needed to pull the pillow over his head more frequently the closer it became to the start of school, due to his father's crying.

This night was the first in a while that Remus hadn't heard any crying. In fact, his father probably wasn't even in the tiny shack, where a sneeze could be heard throughout the place, leaving very little room for privacy. As often as Remus heard his father crying, no doubt his father heard his son's own tears and screams from waking from nightmares. Still, Lyall never said anything. Sometimes when Remus woke himself up screaming the door cracked open as his dad checked to make sure he hadn't physically hurt himself. It made for a pretty awkward balance between the two of them. Remus knew he really didn't have any right to feel hurt by his father. Especially since Lyall really had improved. Remus did feel hurt and frustrated though.

Like most things in the Lupin household, Remus' feelings went unaddressed. The werewolf resigned himself to that fact, taking out his anger on the trees and the woods instead. That specific form of anger management had resulted in several self-inflicted bruises and his father's sharp reminder Remus didn't have the luxury of acting like a normal boy. When his father found out Remus later punched trees until his knuckles bled, he'd been lectured by the very stern man. Then his chores had increased so much that Remus hadn't had any time to be angry, let alone think.

Until the last full moon of the summer, until the timely reminder he wasn't normal. Remus thought only of his chores and the chores to come after. Then after the full moon, he had spent days contemplating his summer, lack of friends, and the long hours of getting yelled at even after his father started looking for a job. Instead of going back to Hogwarts, Remus had spent days of being forced to lay in his bed doing nothing: restless, angry, confused, and sad. With so many emotions rolling around in him it was no wonder it made him dizzy.

Remus carefully started packing those problematic emotions of his deep, deep away, since he couldn't afford to not bury them. He had foolishly had one outburst at his father, which had ended with him out in the woods for three nights until he apologized and had stopped "acting like a monster." Deciding moping in bed about yet another missed day of classes would do him no good, Remus got up and walked out of his room, tugging on a shirt despite the humidity of the day. The heat neither helped his nor his father's temper.

"I told you that's not acceptable, brother!" Came a loud yell from just outside the cabin. Remus froze, his foot extended over the squeaky floorboard leading almost immediately into the living room. He quickly backtracked into his room and flung himself on his bed. He exhaled forcefully, regretting his decision momentarily due to the pain. It had been a rather rough transformation which was why Remus hadn't returned on the Hogwarts Express. But it paid off since when the two men entered the cabin, Lyall incorrectly assumed his son was asleep.