**Ruby's POV**
It was two days after I arrived at the Evans' house and it had been reeeeally quiet and boring. I din't so much mind the quiet, it was better than having Iris around. She's really annoying and ridiculously nosy. Iris walked into my room, where I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business and drawing a picture because there was nothing else to do. Well except read... but I couldn't be bothered at that moment in time.
"Who's that?" she asked.
"My mother," I replied quietly without looking up at her. I hadn't felt much like my normal self lately. It was probably something to do with the fact my Mum had just died. I'm normally much more hyper and crazy.
"Really? She doesn't look much like you."
Don't you think I know that? I lived with her for nearly 9 years, I thought.
"She is but I get most of my looks from my Dad," I said.
"Where is your Dad? Did he die too?"
She's such a nosy, annoying... Just so you know, I didn't really like talking about my Dad. It's not the nicest story. And I was also slightly annoyed at how bluntly she referred to my Mum's death.
"No," I replied.
"Well, why are you here then? Instead of with him, I mean."
"Because..." I really didn't want to tell her the truth. It had been a secret since I was two years old. Not many people knew the truth about who and where my Dad was. "I don't want to talk about it," I muttered, mentally sending "Go Away" messages to her.
"Why? Didn't he want you? Did he run out on you and your Mum? Didn't he love you anymore?" She obviously didn't get them.
"He loved us more than anything," I said, more to myself than Iris. I was starting to get angry. I din't want to talk about it. I had just said that, stupid girl.
"Then why aren't you with him?" Iris asked, a stupid grin on her stupid face.
"BECAUSE HE'S IN PRISON," I shouted, regretting it immediately after. I quickly went back to my drawing, hoping she'd go away.
For a moment the grin left Iris's face, then it crept back up again. "What did he do?"
"I said I don't want to talk about it," I whispered, my face red and tears in my eyes.
"Fine, suit yourself. I'll ask my Dad." She turned away and began examining the room. She walked over and picked up a small toy broomstick from the floor by my bed. "Why do you have a broomstick? It's not a very good toy."
I jumped up and snatched it from Iris's hand. "Careful with that, it was a present."
"It's not a very good one. Who gave you it?"
"My dad," I said quietly. It was solmething he gave me when I was little and it was one of my favourite things. I sat the broomstick carefully on the desk and whispered "Fly."
The broomstick immediately lifted about two inches from the desk and began to fly in small circles.
Iris just stared at it, open mouthed. I grinned at the look on her face. She looked so stupid and jealous. Seeing this, Iris closed her mouth and stormed out of the room, saying, "Well who would want a silly thing like that. Must just be freaks like you."
Haha, jealous much? I though.
***
Iris didn't bother me for the rest of the time I was there. Yay for me. Finally, the time was up and I packed half my clothes into my suitcase again and waited for Mrs Seymour to come and collect me. I heard the bell ring and was downstairs in a flash. I couldn't wait to get out of here and off to see my Uncle Moony. He's not really my uncle, and his name's not Moony. That's just what I call him. He was one of my Dad's best friends from school and is my godfather. Moony was his nickname at school so my Dad called him that and me and my Mum just picked it up from him.
Uncle Maurice had answered the door and Mrs Seymour stood there with a smile on her face.
"Hello Ruby," she called. "I'll just help you with your things and then we'll be on our way." Uncle Maurice didn't look at all happy to let the witch into his house again. From what Mum told me, Uncle Maurice hadn't liked his step-mother, my Granny, or anything to do with magic, stupid muggle that he is.
Mrs Seymour shrunk my suitcase and I packed it into a small bag with other shrunken objects. I can't wait to do magic like that, I thought. We quickly left with a small goodbye and apparated to a place which couldn't have been more different from the street where the Evans live. I felt a bit nauseous. I hate side-along apparation. It was a pretty dark and dirty street, but I'd rather be there than with Uncle Maurice, Aunt Claudia and the irritating girl (aka Iris).
We walked to number 3, which was slightly less shabby than some of the others and Mrs Seymour knocked on the door. A man in his late twenties, with light brown hair and a scarred face answered. He smiled when he saw me. It was great to see Uncle Moony again. Even though I'd seen him a couple of days before, I'd missed him. "Hello Ruby, nice to see you again. And you must be Mrs Seymour," he said, shaking her hand.
"You got my letter, Mr Lupin? Alright then, if you understand everything, I'll be off. Ruby's due back with her uncle in two weeks. I will check up on Ruby in a few weeks, the ministry will contact you with the date. Goodbye Ruby"
I waved to Mrs Seymour and said goodbye. She turned on the spot and was gone with a soft pop. I turned back to her godfather and gave a small smile as I walked into the house.
"How are you holding up?" Remus asked, as we walked up the stairs.
"Alright, I guess," I answered quietly.
Remus looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "You guess?" He knows me too well.
"No. It's awful. I miss her so much," I said before bursting into tears. Uncle Moony didn't look at all surprised. He knelt down and put his arms around me and I cried into his shoulder for a minute or two. When I had control of myself again, He said, "It'll all be alright in the end, you'll see." I didn't see then though.
Remus took me to the small room which would be my room. It was a little bigger than my other room and was painted a pale yellow colour. Yay, yellow is one of my favourite colours. I looked around. There was a wardrobe, a bed, a desk and a chest of drawers. Also some shelves on the wall for my books and stuff. I like reading by the way. Quite a lot.
"We can redecorate it if you want," Remus said, trying to read the expression on my face and failing.
I turned to him and smiled a little. "No, yellow's great," I said, "It's a happy colour, and Merlin, I could use it."
Remus chuckled softly at that. I unpacked my small bag and Remus waved his wand over the boxes and suitcase so they became normal sized. "Do you want any help?" He asked.
"No, that's alright"
"Okay then," he said and left to prepare for the full moon that night. *Shudder* I wasn't looking forward to that at all.
I hummed softly as I unpacked my remaining toys, art supplies and books then filled my wardrobe. I then sat down to read my favourite book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and waited for the night to come.
***
That night, as we were eating dinner, Remus asked, "Do you understand what's going to happen tonight?"
"Sort of," I replied slowly. "I read about it in one of Mum's old defense against the dark arts books, but I didn't really understand all of it."
Remus nodded and glanced at his watch. "There isn't really time to explain everything, I guess the basics will have to do. When you transform, it's quite painful and you'll be very tired after. You won't remember anything during the night. Your mind is taken over and you have no control. You pretty much black out until morning. Because you have no control, we need to be in separate rooms with lots of protective charms on them so nobody gets hurt to badly."
I nodded, "I think I understand."
"Okay, we'd better get ready."
I jumped up and went to my bedroom. I carefully removed my gold locket from around my neck and my small charm bracelet from my wrist then placed them on my desk. The locket was my Mum's and the bracelet was a present from my dad. I loved them both because they reminded me of my parents. The locket's gold and round with a S of a green stone inlay. Mum never really liked the look of it but it's a really old family heirloom. Inside is a picture of me, my Mum and my Dad and also a picture of the Potters because James was my Dad's best friend, Lily was my Mum's. My parents were Harry's godparents and Lily was my godmother. The bracelet is silver with two charms on it, a ruby cut in the shape of a heart and a cupcake with pink icing. Mmm cupcakes. Dad gave me the bracelet when I was born, the heart for my first birthday and the cupcake for my second. There isn't any more because I was two when he went to Azkaban. I changed into an old t-shirt and pair of shorts then went downstairs. I laid a pair of jeans and a top outside the room where I would spend the night and then went inside. Remus stuck his head round the door. "I'm putting up the charms now," he said. "When the sun rises, the charms will break and you can leave the room." He looked at me sadly, "See you on the other side," he said and left. Great way to make me feel better Uncle Moony, I thought.
I turned and looked around the room. It was empty except for an old wooden chair and table. The only light came from a streetlight outside a small window. I walked over and looked at the sky from the window. It was dark and I couldn't see any stars or the moon.
Then I suddenly remembered the bandages on my body. They'd be in shreds in the morning and i didn't have anything with me to replace them. It was gonna ruin the clean top I left outside the door. I pulled of the old t-shirt and threw it into a corner. One bandage covers my right shoulder and another goes from my left shoulder to the right side of my waist. The deep cuts they covered were only a few weeks old...
*Flashback*
We rushed through the woods. Mum kept muttering about how stupid she had been to leave her wand at home and about forgetting what night it was. I didn't completely understand at the time. She glanced at the sky and then sped up a little bit, pulling me along with her.
Then we heard a long howl. I looked up into my mother's face and saw what I thought was a hint of fear. At this, panic began to rise inside me. What could scare Mum? She picked me up and ran. There was a growling sound behind us. I felt hot tears falling onto my face. I'd had only seen Mum cry a few times before and all of them I had been two years old. The growling was louder, not far behind us.
Mum stopped and put me down. She knelt down, put her hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. "Listen very carefully," she said, tears still falling from her bright green eyes. "I want you to run as fast as you can, back to the house. Wait there until the sun has come up and then use the floo powder on the mantelpiece to go to Remus' house if I'm not back yet. Understand?" I nodded. She unclasped the gold locket from around her neck and put it around mine. I fingered it for a moment and then looked back up at Mum. She smiled and said, "You're a good girl. I wish you'd had an easier life. I want you to remember that I will always love you." She put her arms around me and I whispered, "I love you too, Mummy."
She smiled, "Now go, quickly!"
I turned and began to run. There was a loud growl and I looked over my shoulder to see where it came from. What I saw made me stop, open mouthed and staring. A huge wolf was entering the small clearing. It was bigger than anything I'd had seen in my life and was dark grey with bright yellow eyes. I had a feeling it wasn't a normal wolf. I looked up at the sky and gasped at the full moon shining above me. Mum looked over her shoulder when she heard the gasp. "RUN RUBY!" she shouted.
The wolf pounced and Mum screamed. I stared, frozen with horror at the screams and blood. Then suddenly coming to my senses, I turned and ran. I stumbled through the forest with tears streaming down my face and twigs tangling in my hair. The screaming behind me had stopped and I could hear someone or something following me. I sped up as the noise behind me got closer and closer. My heart thudded loudly in my chest and I heard a low growl behind me.
Pain shot through my whole body and a scream tore from my throat. The wolf had caught up with me and raked its claws down from my left shoulder, one across my chest and one down my back. I screamed again as it sunk it's teeth into my right shoulder. Pain shot through me again, then something changed. I scratched at the wolf's face with what I saw were claws. The wolf let go of me in shock and I turned and ran away as fast as I could, on four paws.
*End of flashback*
Hot tears were running down my face. I sat in the dark and hugged my knees. That was one of the worst nights of my life and I'd had nightmares about it in the month since. It was the night my world was ripped apart. My Mum died and I was bitten. I also discovered I could turn into a dog but I didn't tell anyone.
I glanced out the window again and saw the full moon emerging from behind some clouds. I stood up and walked the middle of the room to wait... and wait...and wait. I heard shouts from somewhere else in the house and assumed it was Moony transforming. So why wasn't I? I looked from the moon, now high in the sky to my body. I was still completely normal. After a while I curled up in an uncomfortable ball on the floor and tried to get some sleep, but I could now hear howls from upstairs.
***
I shielded my eyes from the light streaming through the window. My body ached all over. I sat up stiffly and blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light. The house was silent.
With a lot of effort, I stood up. I'm not normally a morning person but that morning I felt especially terrible. I pulled on my old t-shirt and dragged myself back to my room, then I collapsed into bed. I'd never felt so tired. I ached all over and had a pounding headache. I was asleep less than a minute later.
***
When I woke up, It wasn't as light as when I'd fallen asleep. I looked at my clock and saw it was 2.30pm. My stomach growled. I got up and pulled on some jeans and a clean top. Then I went downstairs to find some food.
I made myself some toast and jam and a cup of tea and sat down at the table. When I was half-way through my toast, Uncle Moony came in, looking very ill and tired, and sat down opposite me.
"Hello," I said brightly, the caffeine in the tea making me feel better. He shushed me and but a hand to his forehead.
"Sorry," I said quietly. He got up and made himself a cup of coffee. Once he'd made it he sat back down.
"How come your so cheerful?" He asked.
"I have toast and jam," I replied, munching my toast and jam.
"You're not tired or ill from last night?"
I chewed some toast and considered my reply. "Well, I'm a bit confused about last night. You see, nothing happened,"
He gave me a strange look. "What do you mean nothing happened?"
"Nothing happened. I didn't transform."
"What?" I shrugged. He thought for a minute, then said, "But you were bitten?" I nodded. "The only cases I've heard of when someone's been bitten and not turned is when the person is already an animagus, but you're too young to be able to do something that complex."
"What's an animagus?" I asked.
"Someone who can turn themselves into an animal at will."
"What, like this," I said, getting up. Remus gave me a strange, slightly curious look. I stood in a space, screwed up my eyes and concentrated. After a moment, I felt my body change. I opened my eyes and looked up at Moony, who had a really shocked look on his face. I laughed at him and it came out as a strange bark noise. I turned myself back, which was much easier, and laughed properly at his face. He recovered from the shock then looked at me with a serious and still slightly curious look.
"When did you discover you could do that?" he asked.
"It's how I escaped that night. That was only the second time I've done it," I replied, going back to my toast. He looked thoughtful
"Well, I guess that's how you're not a werewolf then."
I stopped munching my toast and looked up at him, suddenly alarmed. "If I'm not a werewolf then does that mean I have to live with the Evans full time?"
"I guess so," he replied, looking a bit sad.
"I don't want to! They're horrible!" I cried, feeling close to tears, "Please don't make me!"
"Ruby, I would rather you didn't have to, but if the ministry says you have to then there's nothing I can do," he replied.
I thought for a moment then said, "Well, couldn't we just... not tell them?" I said looking up at him with my best puppy-dog eyes. "I would still get to come and see you then. And I'd go insane if I had to stay there all the time. Iris is horrible and annoying. And I would miss magic type learning too."
He thought for a moment, then said, "Well, I guess you've been through a lot recently. And saying you're an animagus would raise a lot of suspicion about why. But we would have to tell Dumbledore when you go to hogwarts."
"Does that mean we won't tell the ministry?" He sighed then nodded. "Yay!" I jumped up and ran to hug him.