Body, Mind, and Soul

Remus was extremely uncomfortable all throughout dinner. The entire pack sat on logs in the clearing, all of them in the center. There were various animal meats for them, some without all the fur even taken off. It didn’t bode well with Remus, but he had to remember that he had eaten this and more during transformations.

Everyone looked different, some of them hybrids between wolf and human, covered in scars and walking hunched over with thin limbs that were wired with muscle. Snout-like noses, sharper-than-normal teeth, and excessive hair—it was easy to tell that these people were wild. Young lycans ran around from person to person, giggling happily like any normal child while also tearing into bloody flesh.

Once everyone settled down and was more focused on chewing rather than talking, Greyback stood up, rabbit in hand, and began.

“Fellow wolves, we have a new addition to our pack.” His voice was scratchy, almost like a growl, which was fitting considering his appearance. “This is Remus Lupin, one of my own children.” Remus shivered but said nothing, simply looking at the rest of the lycans and nodding in acknowledgment. “He, like so many others, tried to hide his true self, but now, he’s come to join us. It’s our job—no, duty—to teach him our ways.”

Remus had never gotten the impression that Greyback was one for speeches, but judging by the looks of admiration and agreement on the other pack members’ faces, he could conclude that he did this fairly often, often enough to not sound like a complete brute, anyway.

“Now for introductions.”

There were over three dozen of them, and the amber-eyed man knew that he wouldn’t remember all of them, a Peter here, a Nicholas there. He only truly listened when Greyback turned to a group if six girls ranging from what looked like ten to twenty-five, one of them being the girl who had led him here—Lis.

“These are my daughters, Cassiopeia, Viviana, Deidre, Fiona, Amaryllis, and Adeline.” The last was holding a small, child who had long hair and a face like Fenrir’s. “The little one Addy’s got is our cub.” Remus shut his blue eyes at the hint of inbreeding taking place. The cubs would surely be mad with mental deficits and deformations. Still, all of the young women showed small smiles save for Lis who kept a straight face and continued to eat.

“No sons?” Remus asked, looking up at the huge werewolf, and Greyback grinned. “Nope, something about this thing—“ he grabbed his crotch in a crude manner—“it just makes women.”

The rest of the wolves laughed, so Remus forced one out.

“And… a wife or, erm, mate?”

Another loud laugh and Fenrir went on. “No mate, Lupin, and every mother is dead.” He was casual about it which was not surprising. Greyback killed for sport. Remus could easily guess that over half of these wolves had been changed thanks to him, for he did it on purpose, positioning himself near homes during the full so that he could attack humans and raise the werewolf population.

He decided not to ask any more questions. All it was doing was making him feel ill, anyway. Remus finished his meal in silence, vaguely thinking about how he was going to convince all of these lycans that following Voldemort was a bad idea. No one seemed to notice his distance, though Greyback’s daughter, Amaryllis, spent the entire meal staring at him.

Afterward, Fenrir walked around, talking to the other wolves and asking if they had any spare rooms or cots. Apparently all of them had said no because, in the end, he came up to Remus with a boisterous, “Looks like you’re staying with us for a while,” and pushed him toward another patch of trees, chuckling when the lanky man stumbled with his bag.

Remus guessed that the different cabins were dispersed throughout the forest and they quickly came upon the Greybacks’. It wasn’t huge, but it was definitely a house. Completely made of wood, it would have looked beautiful and rustic had it been kept up with. Instead, tall weeds grew around it and there was some damage to the roof. The logs that it was built from were old and dry and the front door was only a screen.

His daughters were all standing on the crooked porch and Remus and their father joined them.

“Normally, I would put you with Cas since she’s the oldest and has the biggest room, but her to-be mate stays with us and gets a little territorial over her, so for now, you can stay in the back room. It’s more of a closet really, but it doesn’t look like you brought much.” He elbowed Remus in the ribs and chuckled.

“It’ll be fine,” the smaller man said, rubbing his side with a grimace.

He trekked through the house behind the monstrous man, walking to the very back to a small dark room with nothing but a cot mattress on the ground. There was a threadbare blanket thrown on top of it—fine considering how warm Remus’ body temperature stayed—along with a flat, dirty pillow. For the flash of a second, Remus thought back to Grimmauld Place and missed it terribly.

“It’s a fend-for-yourself system in the pack, so don’t expect anyone to make your breakfast or anything like that.”

“I’m pretty self-sufficient, so that won’t be a problem.”

Greyback laughed and slapped him on the back again. He seemed to like doing that. “So eloquent. You weren’t like that when you were screaming for mercy.” Remus squeezed his eyes shut, bile rising in his throat.

“I was five.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll have to work on bringing out your wild side while you’re here.” He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Remus to rush over to the tiny window above his new bed and throw it open so that he could vomit up everything he had eaten for supper.