Harry Potter: No Butterflies

[pirl.livejournal.com]

Title: No Butterflies
Author: pirl
Rating: G, gen
Fandom: Harry Potter
Character: Remus Lupin
Summary: Just after Remus turned five, he stayed overnight at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after eating one of this father's mushrooms.
Disclaimer: none
Spoilers: none
Notes: For picfor1000 Challenge #5. Element: Earth. Title taken from an anonymous quote, "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." Heaps of thanks to kitestringer for some insight on the native fauna of Great Britain and for getting me all woobified with regard to the character of Remus Lupin in the first place. Big thanks to maverick4oz and mboyd as well for some 11th hour beta work.



Just after Remus turned five, he stayed overnight at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after eating one of this father's mushrooms. Owning a flower shop, his father had lots of beautiful blooms and interesting plants which the muggles loved to buy. Being a wizard with a hobby in herbology, his father also had other much more interesting vegetation which the magic folk loved to buy as well. Always an inquisitive child with an insatiable sweet tooth, Remus had thought the bright red somnopileum his father kept in the back room was a fancy tart like the one his mum made for his birthday, complete with a dusting of powdered sugar on top.

Remus doesn't remember much about his stay in hospital. He remembers being very tired, and that the Healer had given him lots of chocolate frogs. He also remembers how the crystal bubbles of light gently bobbed up and down above his bed, exactly the way they did now.

He shifted on the bed and whimpered quietly in pain, trying to curl himself tighter around his upset stomach. The reason he was at St. Mungo's this time was that the bite on his leg was making his whole body feel sick. He had strayed away from the picnic site for only a minute. He had seen some night-blooming celestial root off by the forest's edge and wanted pick some for his dad. It had scared him so much when the big dog jumped out from the trees and tackled him. He had punched and kicked and cried out for his mum while his dad ran over, waving his wand and shouting words that Remus didn't understand.

The bite still burned. Remus reached down expecting the bandage to feel hot. When his mum sat with him that night she stroked his hair and told him that she would take care of him and that she loved him no matter what. He didn't mean to be bad, and he really should've stayed by the picnic blanket, but the flowers had been so pretty.

Sometime during the night an older boy had been put in the bed next to Remus. When he woke, the boy was already tucking into his breakfast. With a mouth full of toast he asked after his name, and Remus answered with a voice so small that he had to repeat himself.

"I'm Cliff." He pointed to the large, white dots that peppered his skin. "My cousin Filbert locked me in a cellar full of doxies." Despite the daubs of caked-on medicine and constant irritation from the poisonous doxie bites, Cliff was lighthearted and friendly. "What happened to you?"

Remus hesitated at the question. Last night his dad told him that if anyone asked, he was to say that a jinxed dog had bit him. Somehow he knew this wasn't true, but it scared him that his dad was telling him to lie. So he told Cliff the lie and he apparently thought it was neat and asked Remus about what kind of jinx the bite had and if he could take off the bandage so he could see it.

"I'm going to Hogwarts next year. I want to learn about magical creatures. My cousin Filbert's got all sorts of pets. He even has an ashwinder. I asked my mum if I could get one, but she said they're too dangerous. Do you have any pets?"

Cliff chatted breathlessly with Remus for most of the morning. He liked the boy and his endless questions and cheerfulness made Remus forget about his aching leg for a little while.

"Clifton!" A small, thin woman wearing tailored robes rushed into the ward with a flurry. When she reached their beds, she stared at Remus with a look of horror and violently pulled the curtain closed between the two of them. Regardless of the thin barrier, she spoke loudly to the boy.

"I'm having you moved immediately! Placing you in a bed next to a werewolf!" Her shrill voice bounced off the walls in the ward. "I'm going to find who's responsible and give them a piece of my mind! Come here, young man."

Remus gingerly climbed out of his bed and peered around the curtain. He watched as the woman, whom he now figured was Cliff's mother, pulled her son to the door. As they exited the ward, Cliff looked back at Remus. He held his gaze for only a moment, but the change in Cliff's demeanor was unmistakable. The same cheerful boy who was just laughing with him now looked upon him with fear and disgust so powerful that Remus hid behind the curtain to escape it.

It was just the beginning.

Around noon his mum came in to visit and couldn't hide her tears though she tried. She said nothing to him this time and just cried at the foot of his bed. Later, when his father arrived, Remus overheard him talking with the Healer.

"—need some bars for the windows, at least board them up."

"Is he really that dangerous? He's just a boy."

"You are going to have to face the fact that your son is no longer human and is a dangerous animal. And if you are determined to care for him, the people need to be protected."

The Healer didn't give him any more chocolate frogs. At the hospital people whispered to each other when they looked at him. His father told him that he wouldn't be able to attend Hogwarts and was taken out of primary school. And the very worst of all, once a month his parents would make him sleep in a locked room in the cellar where he would wonder why he was being punished.

One morning after Remus woke up sick in the cellar again, a man came to their house. He had a long, silvery beard, and eyes that twinkled behind half-moon glasses. In his soft and wrinkled hand was a letter addressed to Remus.