the true haunting (Remus/open)

[Anya Kresimir]

"Why weren't you with them this time? I mean.. I'm glad you weren't or I wouldn't have met you, but... why were you here?" When she had arrived in the shack before no one had been there, but she'd been told what she should do. She had fallen asleep on the floor and guessed that was when the boy must have come.

"I'd like to meet them I think.. It would be ...nice not to have to be caged or shackled if I didn't have to be. I never thought it could be any different, ever since my brother..." she paused but continued without finishing that thought, "...I was always in a cage. I hate cages." she shivered but she knew that a cage was better than hurting her brother, she'd never live with herself if she was the cause of something bad happening to her brother again.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus sighed softly. "Sometimes... it's harder to control yourself more than at other times. I'm sure you've felt it... when everything gets more stressful, and you're more emotional than other times... the transformations are worse, and you're more violent. At those times... it's harder to control, even with the pack. I was feeling that way this month... I thought it best to confine myself."

He finished wrapping her other wrist and secured it with the medical tape. "I'm sure this would be faster if I could do it with magic, but I'm not very good at the spell yet," he said apologetically. "Anyway... yeah, I can take you to meet Zander and Pearl," he agreed. "I'll just have to send them an owl."

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya smiled softly at Remus, he was very gentle and she liked that. She had known gentleness only from her brother, and she valued it in others deeply. "I would like that.. thank you. And yes I do know what you mean.. I guess there will always be times I'll end up confined too. But it would be nice if for once I could.." she shrugged "..be what I am without as much fear of what I will do when the moon is full."

She looked into his eyes, they were soft, gentle and caring. She felt an odd connection to him she'd never felt before with anyone. She wondered if it meant something but she was too young to know what love at first sight was all about. He was a good soul and she knew they would be close friends from then on.

"It's good to not have to be alone anymore..." still her voice held gentle depth and meaning and a soft sense of coming home.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus smiled, feeling momentarily lost in her green eyes. He'd never seen a color quite like that. For some reason, he suddenly felt a bit shy and forgot what he wanted to say to her. "Um... yeah," he said, finally tearing his eyes away. "Er, I know what you mean... I was alone all the time, too. Until I met the pack, I'd never even known another werewolf other than Greyback. And I didn't even really know him until he came after me again, in Hogsmeade."

He sighed. "Madam Pomfrey should be coming for us soon. I don't know about you, but I'm really tired... I didn't sleep last night... I just howled and tore at the chains. I think I almost got one of them loose, actually."

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya had not managed to loosen her chains she'd been too bewildered at her new surroundings and had been trying to get to the other one in the room odd as that might be. But she didn't say anything, it was funny how instinctual you became when you weren't human anymore... and age seems different and non-existant. She blushed and looked away quickly.

"I'm sure it can be repaired. I think the sun is starting to come up," she said as she noticed some light beginning to filter into the room from between the boarded up slats in the windows.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus sighed softly as he moved toward the trap door that led into the shack. "Pretty crappy timing for you, huh? I mean, you just got here and had to deal with a full moon before you even got to go to any classes or meet anyone. Have you been inside the castle yet at all? Or am I the first person you've met?"

He sat down on the floor to wait for Madam Pomfrey. Looking up at Anya, he shyly patted the spot next to him, inviting her to sit with him while they waited.

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya went to shyly sit next to him, each movement was graceful and seemed like slow motion. But when she sad down she answered him, "I met the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster yesterday morning... but they are the only one's I've met here. Well other than my brother of course, and he had to be the one to help me into the shakles. So yes I guess you could say that you're the only one I've really met here. And I haven't seen any other parts of the castle, I was told to come straight here."

[Remus Lupin]

Remus felt sorry for her. It had to be hard to come into a new place and start out like this, chained up in a rickety old shack, without even getting a chance to settle in. "Well, maybe I can show you around later," he said, blushing slightly. "My friends and I... we're pretty good at finding our way around the castle. I could introduce you to them, if you want." Ho found himself staring into her eyes again. It seemed like it would be so easy to get lost in them. He hadn't felt like that about anyone since Sabrina's death.

"Er... did you get sorted? Do you know what house you're going to be in?"

[Anya Kresimir]

"I would love to meet .. friends of yours. If they are anything like you, I'm sure I would enjoy getting to know them. Do.. do they know about you? I mean.. what you are?" She gestured to the room the were in.

"House?" Anya looked confused for a moment before she remembered what he was talking about. "Oh the hat that talked right? Yes the Headmaster sorted me before he sent me here, umm.. something about a house with a Griffin Door. I"m not sure what that was all about." There were still a few language barriers she was still getting used to, though she had been taught English from a young age, some things still managed to escape her.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus grinned at her confusion. It reminded him of the way Pearl talked sometimes; sort of removed from the world and yet somehow above it. He thought it was cute. "Gryffindor," he corrected. "That's my house. So that's a good thing," he explained. "It means we'll share the same common room and sit at the same table at meals."

Somehow, knowing that she was in Gryffindor, and not Slytherin, made him feel a lot more at ease with her. "So, where you came from... did they have houses like that? Or were you grouped at all? Did you have friends there? How come you had to come here? Uh... sorry if I'm asking too many questions."

[Anya Kresimir]

"We had a girls dorm and a boys dorm, but no.. groups really. We only had one founder, either you were accepted or you weren't. There are more homeschooled kids there, the muggle borns mostly are. Durmstrang was much different, more.. dark. They don't even teach Defence against the dark arts.. instead they teach the dark arts there. It's supposed to be easier to defend if you know how to do it.. something like that." She shrugged. "I was never really good at that subject last year. I just don't have it in me I think to be dark. But I never really had friends there.. just my brother. I was locked in a dungeon cell on the full moons. And I had to move here because my cousin forced us to. She's our legal guardian, and she's one of the assistant teachers here now. That's why she had us transfered, but.. I don't really like my cousin."

[Remus Lupin]

"They were going to homeschool me," Remus said quietly. "They didn't think there'd be any option for me, anywhere I could go that would be safe. I was very lucky that Professor Dumbledore was able to make arrangements for me. Otherwise, I guess I would have been alone, just like I was for the rest of my life. Instead, I have friends and I found the pack... I even found my sister." He smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here. My friends will like you... they know about me now and they don't mind."

[Anya Kresimir]

"You have a sister? My brother and cousin are the only ones who know about me really, other than Dumbledore and McGonagall who accepted my transfer and sorted me before sending me here. I never really had friends before. I can say you are my first if you don't count my brother." She blushed a bit, admiting that she could call him a friend was a bit forward for Romanian customs but she already thought of him as one and she hoped he wouldn't mind her calling him that.

[Remus Lupin]

"Oh... I didn't mention Kris?" Remus said. "Yeah... I have a sister. We weren't raised together... she met me here. Our parents sent her away after I was bitten... it was supposed to protect her, but she wound up getting bitten, too. She went with the pack this time." He blushed slightly when she said he was her friend. Although he barely knew her, he felt comfortable enough with her to think of her as a friend, too.

[Anya Kresimir]

"What is it like?" she asked softly, but when he gave her a questioning look she clarified her question, "To have friends, a pack... people who know what you are and still want to be with you and not be afraid." Her brother is the only one she knew like that, but he was her brother... she'd never really had anyone like Remus did. Her family had died in the attack when she'd been bitten, her brother had been the only one to survive unscathed, though durring her first turning she'd given him the scars on his chest but he'd managed to esape then too. She had never had any one else who wasn't afraid of her or treated her like a person once they knew.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus laughed slightly. "I don't know... I'm still getting used to it myself. My friends... they only just found out, the last full moon. Before that... I was always afraid they would hate me if they found out. I was terrified they would find out and wouldn't want anything to do with me. But they figured it out on their own... and they were OK with it. Until then, I really didn't believe it was possible for people to accept me for what I was. I lost a lot of friends as a kid... and we had to move around a lot, too. But it's better now. It'll be better for you now, too. You'll see."

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya watched Remus as he spoke and she felt for him, and understood how he felt. What she found the most interesting was how much they were alike, and hearing how he had found friends to accept him.. it bloomed the hope that perhaps they would accept her too. That he might be right, that things would be better for her too... it was almost too much to hope for.

"I hope so.. I would like that very much I think. If you do not mind having me around that is." She looked shy as she worried that he might not let her be friends, that he might dash her hopes in the end.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus smiled shyly. "No, I don't mind. Why would I? I spent so long thinking I was totally alone in what I was going through, so having someone else who knows what it's like... it makes a big difference. And my friends are cool, you'll see."

He heard a sound of footsteps approaching on the stairs below them, leading to the trapdoor. "I think Madam Pomfrey's on her way now," he remarked.

[Anya Kresimir]

Anya stood up and straightened her clothing before the Nurse could appear. But his words had made her smile and she felt a sense of relief that he had said he wouldn't be alone any more. Because that was how she felt, that she already felt as if she had found a friend who could understand what she was going through and not only accept it but truly understand it. It was a new feeling and she couldn't help but feel happy.

[Madam Poppy Pomfrey]

Madam Pomfrey pushed open the trap door and found the two children sitting together, waiting for her. Smiling warmly, she said, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long. I had a patient come in just as I was about to leave. Do either of you have any injuries you need me to attend?"